


Comfort Zone

by leechailatten



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Comfort, Domestic Fluff, Doyoung is kinda Anxious, Drunken Shenanigans, Eventual Smut, Fluff, M/M, Mutual Pining, Roleplay, Spin Off, Time Skips, Toys, they are cheesy and dumb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-12 17:13:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 35,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29762922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leechailatten/pseuds/leechailatten
Summary: The comfort zone is a behavioral state within which a person operates in an anxiety-neutral condition, using a limited set of behaviors to deliver a steady level of performance, usually without a sense of risk. There are three stages to visit when stepping out of said zone, which are the Fear Zone, the Learning Zone and the Growth Zone.That’s what the psychologists said, and the best part of it -noting the irony here- was that there wasn’t a clear roadmap to exit this state.So what was Doyoung doing after finding out that the hottest man of Seoul had challenged himself to drag him out of that comfortable, warm, cosy little crany of his behavioural pattern?Furiously baking a cake, he couldn’t do a lot more"
Relationships: Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung
Comments: 12
Kudos: 83





	Comfort Zone

**Author's Note:**

> Note that this is a spin off born from another work of mine ([ Sour Candy](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27109048/chapters/66196828)) but it's absoultely readable as an independent story. However, I'm letting you know there are references to the other pairings and the story follows that line. 
> 
> I also know some of you like to play music while reading, so I'm leaving a ([playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5QBasYPw9apG4ifZS1BMsO?si=LAFw8TJsSBaINp2_9W924Q))specially made for this fanfic!
> 
> I hope you enjoy and see you at the bottom comments if you want to say anything! :D

“Mr. Lee Taeyong? Jaehyun is completely free. His studio is in this corridor, the second door at the left” said a woman that had been waiting behind the Beauty Studio's counter to give them indications, pointing at the direction where a wide, rectangular arch opened in the wall and left space for a hallway. “You can come in”

“Thank you, miss” nodded his friend. 

Doyoung sighed, willing to follow after Taeyong now that they were there. He loathed the way in which Taeyong’s doe eyes could make even the coldest person alive bend over and say yes, because he ended up there, in the apparently named Red Stain studio, a make-up sanctuary in the middle of Seoul. 

Taeyong had asked Doyoung very thoroughly to come with him, and the younger one had no remedy but to say yes because Taeyong was falling helplessly in love with a model and the poor man -about to be interrogated- that worked at that studio was Ten’s friend. 

Ten, the model in question, was the one that Taeyong had always admired since the moment he saw him, and the moment they met in person by a mere coincidence, sparks flew between them. 

That was unfair, in Doyoung’s eyes. If your destined one -let's say, your soulmate or something like that, the ideal type that the universe has created for you- is a popular celebrity of fashion communities and you can see him everywhere in magazines and know his mind through interviews, it's not fair. That was absolutely cheating, Taeyong couldn't be so lucky while Doyoung just… 

Well, Doyoung was Doyoung. 

He was a pastry chef in one of those cute cafes/bakeries so popular among young people once they found it on instagram. He was good at decorating cakes and making other pretty foods that were also delicious. 

He was a baker that made the kind of sweets and treats you buy for your significant other on Valentine's day, your anniversary together, a wedding even. And yet, he was fucking lonely. 

He had Taeyong, Johnny and Jungwoo as his friends, Yuta was his coworker and… well, the ingredients supplier that worked for their store was nice too. Doyoung wasn't completely alone, but he felt alone. Alone in the 'hold my hand while we watch a movie' kind of alone, in the 'I work extra hours to not go to bed by myself' alone. 

Everyday, he wrote 'happy 100 days, darling, I love you' with frosting on cakes about twenty times, and he served milkshakes with two straws for lovebirds to sip from. And it was stupid, stupid and pathetic to feel that way when he hated to need people to be helped, but he craved something like they had. 

Someone that would get him a heart shaped cake with 'I love you, Doyoung' written on top. He could even accept a messy written one because his boyfriend would have tried to make it with affection. 

In part, the knowledge of how stupid it was to spend hours of his day working extra hours was what made him sigh and accept Taeyong’s invitation -or more likely, threaten- to go to the studio with him. 

Taeyong, Jungwoo and Johnny had been telling him to slow down for months now, maybe even a year, and he knew that he was overworking, it was just that he couldn't stop. Some people smoked to relieve stress, some drunk, and Doyoung worked. But reached that point, since a couple of months ago, he had noticed that working so much was getting him extra tired, and when he was that exhausted, he craved a sweet kiss and a warm cuddle to put him to sleep even more, so he was getting adverse effects. 

So like that, without caring about fashion too much, without knowing a damn about make-up, Doyoung had dressed himself up in nice clothes to not look incredibly out of place and followed his designer friend into a make-up studio to meet up with Jung Jaehyun, a man that his friend had to interview for a collaboration in a fashion photoshoot and that would be actually dragged into a love issues conversation. 

He was already feeling compassion for the make-up artist without even knowing him, because dealing with Taeyong’s romances matters was a hard task and the little dude was catching feelings for Ten like a champion even if he lowkey refused to admit it. 

Doyoung took a look at the corridor as they passed through the way the woman had indicated, getting shocked by the glossy effect of the black tiles that covered everything, from the walls to the floor. It was a very fancy and chic place, and the type he wasn't used to. 

He was… almost awkward. 

There were some clean mirrors with white led illuminating the space, big and wide, probably made for clients to admire their makeup with their clothes in the same frame if they wanted; and Doyoung had to stop himself in front of one of them.

He checked himself, proud of the outfit he managed to put together all by himself. It has been a while since he didn't look like that, but it was gratifying deep down and it gave him a punch of confidence. 

It wasn't revolutionary or edgy, but it suited him and he felt powerful on it. It was a striped, oversized button down with an open collar and skinny jeans, the silver pendant on his collar very simple but highlighting his deep collarbones. 

He felt kinda hot., so he pulled out his phone.

“My Instagram needs to see this” he said, shrugging when he discovered the designer smiling, entertained by his poses in front of the red glow of yet another neon sign of the studio’s names. 

“Agree, but my clothes don’t fit with the red aesthetics” he said, being right. The red of the lights didn't match with the neon green t-shirt that the designer was wearing. 

“I’ll take one for you later in front of the black wall if you want”

“Deal”

As they chatted, Taeyong took the initiative and knocked on the second door at the left like the woman had said, and waited for the answer before they opened the door to slip in. The deep voice that came from behind the wood made Doyoung knit his eyebrows with a pinch of… surprise, noticing the attractive edge on his baritone that managed to pull at his heart. 

Taeyong didn't seem anywhere near conscious of this, his eyes diverting to his conversation with Ten through his phone, and he pushed through the threshold slmos carelessly while Doyoung tried to find the source of the sound.

That was the first time he saw Jung Jaehyun. 

From behind a long counter with thousands of makeup products and big mirrors in front of comfortable chairs, a soft brunette head popped out to give way to a tall, broad man. 

He was wearing a set of comfortable clothes, as expected from someone that was working, all in black from the hoodie to the sweatpants. However, his hair was perfectly styled with gel or foam, with a wet look under the hoodie that basically just adorns the outfit and gave away that it wasn't just casual. He was absolutely sure of what he was doing, overflowing with confidence about himself, conscious of the way Doyoung’s eyes had stopped over him.

Jaehyun had half of it pushed back and the other flowed messily to fall over his eyebrows, revealing the most handsome face Doyoung had laid his eyes on since… since forever, dammit.

“Hello?” blurted out Taeyong, foreing to this fantasy in Doyoung’s mind that, regardless of his mild aversion for things like one night stands and sex in the firdt date, was playing the Sexy Back theme like a blast.

“Yeah, come in, please!”

"My god, Taeyong" he hissed, starting to run his fingers through his black hair trying to straighten his bangs well over his forehead and lining the shirt correctly over his shoulders to show the accent of the silver lock shaped pendant decorating his collar. "You gotta warn me about these things" 

"Which things?"

"Hey, you must be Taeyong" said Jaehyun, waving at the blonde with a gentle, mild smile. "I am Jung Jaehyun, the make-up artist Ten sold your life to" 

"These" chokes up Doyoung to his ear. 

For major injury, Taeyong chuckled due to the stupid joke Jaehyun had used to greet him and extends his hand out to him with a charming smile and a certain amount of mischief mingling with it. 

Fuck, he was atractive. Attractive in a crazy way that made Doyoung course that primal instinct telling him to lick his earlobe and jump on him. 

Oh no, no. He wasn't falling into this. Jung Jaehyun was a make-up artist, a participant in the fashion world, he just… he was trained to look perfect, but he couldn't be so. 

No one is so perfect. 

And besides, what could a make-up artist have in common with Doyoung? What would they talk about?

It was an impossible thing at the time to match, so Doyoung should better ignore him. 

Ignore his charms. Pretend his existence wasn't hitting him up. 

"Yes, I am Lee Taeyong" continued his friend, shaking his hand. "And this is my friend, Kim Doyoung. I hope you don't mind I brought him with me today"

Yeah, that didn't help Doyoung with the ignoring part. 

Jaehyun eyed him, still with his gentle smile, yet with eyes that made Doyoung feel like someone clogged his breathing pipes with cement. His eyes were deep, so much he could drown in them, almond colored like the coffee cream Doyoung sometimes used at the bakery to fill macarons. Just as sweet, as bitter and ritch, with a kick of caffeine. 

"Not at all" said Jaehyun, checking Doyoung up from his head to his toes and curling his lips up in a smile that made a chill descend in his spine. 

They placed their hands together on a polite handshake but actually, Doyoung was just internally screaming. 

"My pleasure,  _ literally _ " 

"But for the record, Mr. Jung" continued Taeyong, calling for the man's attention again. "Ten didn't sell my soul, I came willingly. I am not that submissive"

"I can tell that much" he smirked to his friend, resuming the thing they had going on, whatever that was, because Doyoung sure had forgotten that he had ended up there to help his friend in favour to think about how much of a husband built Jaehyun had. 

Now, Doyoung was not the type to believe in love at first sight, and nothing could really change a conviction like that. Nonetheless, Jaehyun really looked like The Type. The type of guy you feel like knowing in depth. He was handsome but also the way he moved and the energy he exuded… Doyoung didn’t really know, he just knew that his interest had been awakened. 

The make-up artist was laughing and giggling as he conversed with Taeyong, seeming like he was way ahead of the designer with the information he had from Ten and that Taeyong died to know. 

"You work seriously, uh?" he asked to Taeyong as Doyoung approached them and tried to position himself in the right place. But what was the right place for a guest to stay in a make-up studio, anyways? Doyoung just did his best attempt at not being in their way. 

"Always. Does it show up?"

"Well” started the make-up artist with a honeyd voice. “Ten is not good at shutting up about you" 

"He is not good at shutting up about Ten either" added Doyoung, very keen to participate in this conversation and taking the chance at the mocking of his friend, that was what he was confident doing. 

Jaehyun chuckled hard. 

"Perfect pair then" 

"We are not a pair" whined Taeyong. 

"Yeah, yeah, the whole 'we are casual' thing" claimed Jaehyun, amusing Doyoung. They both used that same humour to piss off their friends. Who wouldn’t? Doyoung hadn’t met Ten yet and he could tell he was just as chaotic as Taeyong was, if not even more. "Like two peas in a pod, I would even say I am talking to him now" 

Taeyong shrinked as the embarrassment lingered over him and shot an accusatory glance at Doyoung for choosing to side with the make-up artist instead of him in his particular mission for interrogation. 

Doyoung shrugged as if the thing wasn’t with him. He could have his fun too, no? Not only Taeyong could demand to be excused when he did something dumb -like requesting the services of certain make-up artist hoping he spilled the tea about his fuckbudy- because he had a crush. 

He was choosing to be the prick now just to flirt with this man, and it had been so long since the last time he tried it with someone that he was not attending to Taeyong’s dagger eyes. The older could help Doyoung get some, it couldn’t be always Taeyong who got laid. 

"So you know, I seriously want to get this work done" chimed Taeyong, taking the folder from his bag and moving to the desk to spread his design sketches. "So let's leave the foreplay behind and get down to business" 

Jaehyun nodded, moving by Taeyong’s side to take a deep look at the artwork and submerge in an attentive, professional mood. 

His entire demeanor changed, and Doyoung only had eyes for it. He was glad that he wasn’t requested to look at the papers that his friend had drawn and pretend he understood something about the shapes and textures that would be successful in the next season because that way he could stay there and get lost on whatever that was happening with his hormones and other physiological shit while looking at him. 

He was handsome, but the kind that is so from the depth of his eyes and the attention he was putting on the lines and palette of his notes. The way he seemed to be debating his ideas with himself, thinking how to match make-up art with someone else’s idea. 

He was visually handsome from inside Doyoung’s chest. 

It took them a few minutes in silence until Jaehyun humed and melted Doyoung with the tune. 

"Yeah, that’s very Ten” he commented after a while watching the drawings Taeyong had given to him. “I can see why you took his interest with it”

"And why is that?" 

"You must know Ten by now. He enjoys being booked to the completion of the agenda, no matter what photoshoot it is. Almost literally, he would take anything, any work you throw his way, but he is a sucker for experiments and recently the scene is filled with average fittings. I'll tell you something,as a model it's hard to make your way up to the crazy ass designers who don't give a damn about feedback"

Despite being pretty forward as he had proved he was, the words Jaehyun started giving to Taeyong sounded meek and sweet. He felt so comfortable. And that was what got Doyoung to actually feel paralized for a second. 

What was that? Was it envy? Did he want to be talked like that by someone like Jaehyun? 

Someone who looked so calm and warm under the goofy facade, someone who surely liked to hug his partner during the night, who unconsciously hugged them while dreaming and whose voice sounded blurry in the mornings. 

"I don’t know what you’re insinuating” answered Taeyong, making Doyoung’s train of thought crash. “I'm not like that, feedback terrifies me. I know I shouldn't be dragged by other people's opinion, but it's easier said than done. I hate when I'm the target for people to tear me to pieces" 

The taller one let out a giggle that sounded more out of compassion than actual laugh. 

"Well, yeah, it's shitty, but I mean… you may be scared, but you still do it and that's what counts. Look at that" he pointed at the papers in front of them. "You have the nerve. It's probably the most thrilling outfit Ten has had hauled his way in a long time, and I know that because I stick to his ass all the time and do the other half of the job"

"He always says it's you who are tired of giving him the same makeup"

"That's not a lie, I am hella tired of the smoky brown shadow. He is pretty enough to pull out something better, and that's the point. Ten is pretty enough for anyone to make the extra effort of having fun with him and give him a bit more than the bare minimum. Because he makes everything look good and sold out. But not you. And I mean it in a variety of senses, Taeyong" 

"I… well, I like challenging myself" 

"Once again… I can tell that much. After all, you put up with Ten for longer than a month, that's a solid proof of patience" 

"Then you are patient too" offered Taeyong, and Doyoung knew Jaehyun had really managed to find the way to comfort Taeyong. Just like that, like a snap of his fingers he had noticed how to be comforting. Shit, he needed to know him. To know him for real. 

"It doesn't count. He pays my salary, I have to bite the bullet" 

"I wish I had a paid compensation for putting up with you" commented Doyoung, flashing his smuggest smile he possessed with the hope of appealing to this stranger changing the curse of his day. 

Taeyong turned around to threaten Doyoung with a punch that sent the latter to a loud, funny screech. “No, bitch!” 

“You are the one that should pay me for dealing with your asocial ass!”

"Hey, hey, may the wildcats tone it down" laughed Jaehyun, staring at them absolutely entertained. "I don't want any product dropping, they are expensive" 

"Yeah, back to the design” said Taeyong waving his hand as he ignored Doyoung’s expression of being pissed because he just called him asocial in front of the most prince-charming-looking guy of Korea. “I was thinking about making this very luminous and lite. The concept still has a steamy underline, but instead of being edgy, the main colors are mellow" 

"That's going to be hard as hell to portray" 

"Yeah. It's okay if you decide that you don't want to apply for this, anyways" 

"What? No" laughed Jaehyun. His laugh was husky and contagious, so much that Doyoung smiled discreetly. "We’ll manage. I just told you how bored I am with the earthy tones. Let's give this bad bitch a matching makeup look"

"I have some ideas in storage that can work well, let me grab some note sketches" c

It was then when the make-up artist excused himself and went somewhere lost in the depth of his messy studio. 

Doyoung literally yanked Taeyong back and bunched at his friend’s side, taking the chance to look directly at his friend

“ _ Wow _ ”

Taeyong chuckled. "Yeah, I didn’t expect him to be this energetic"

"No, no, no, I mean…  _ wow _ ” repeated Doyoung, being more thorough in the pronunciation of his surprise, shock and awe. “Give him a laurel wreath and I'll believe he is the damned Apollo or something" 

It was a roaring laughter that came from the older of the friends, as Doyoung had expected, but he didn’t care at all because he meant it for real. 

As the make-up artists came back, Doyoung hoped he hadn't noticed Taeyong and him giggling like teenagers that think they are being sneaky but aren't. 

Because they weren't, and Doyoung was almost sure that Jaehyun had to contain a smile as he gave an eyebrow flash to him. 

It was really short for Doyoung’s liking, since Jaehyun was back in front of his table, placing sketches of make-up looks next to Taeyong’s drawings. 

Doyoung didn't really know what the technical points to match an outfit and a make-up look were, nor he was used to wear make-up at all, but he had to admit that what he was seeing on the sketches was really appealing. 

A part of him wondered how would he look if he put that on his face, but between his comfort zone and the growth zone, there was the one of fear; and all those heavy strokes of paint that Jaehyun and Taeyong were discussing with profesional views felt not for him. 

They were talking about skin types, body jewels, cosmetic glue… it felt more like Taeyong’s world, Doyoung was more versed in measuring ingredients and blending cinnamon on his cream. 

"Hmm… all of this is good. I want something like that, light, but we can get something a bit more striking, I think" said Taeyong, making the man shuffle his papers to expose a different selection of sketches of his ideas. 

Doyoung wondered how many of those he owned. 

"Okay, I know what you mean" 

“Yeah?”

Jaehyun tapped a finger over a design he had. 

“Check out”

Doyoung peeps from behind the designer to see what they are talking about, starting to be intrigued. 

It's a blend of dry brush strokes in blue and white on the crease and at the corner of the eyes. The eyelashes are deep blue and the eyeliner is so long, white and bold that it would never have occurred to Doyoung it could be drawn on someone's face. 

“Can you do these strokes in silver and white instead of blue and white?” asked Taeyong, pointing here and there over the drawing.

“Yeah, sure, we can do that. You like this one?”

“Maybe the blue of the lashes… can be matched with blue contacts”

“Ten bears that well, I don’t think it bothers him”

“Then it’s bang on!”

“As expected” joked Jaehyun, throwing some more of his overconfidence all around the place, elbowing Taeyong funnily. “I actually drew this one with Ten once. It may sound a bit intense, but I like to go to cafes and sketch while I have some drinks. Ten came with me that day and we were talking about the season hues so I came out with this but archived it after because, well, it has no use with our current designers” 

“That must be it, I really really think it matches him well” 

“That’s why we got wider tables for the cafe” butted in Doyoung. It was a little bit pathetic how he seemed to be waiting for an opportunity to talk about himself in the middle of a business meeting but screw all of it, he needed to try for once. “People kept coming in with their laptops and schoolwork, so Yuta suggested we should give people room to place papers”

“You own a coffee shop?” asked Jaehyun, leaving Taeyong with his silent examination of the sketch as the make-up artists leaned on the table, prompting himself on his arm.

He was close to Doyoung and had a smile that showed the pointy tips of his canines under the pink of his lips which, on the other hand, looked soft and plump. 

Doyoung gulps and nods. “The exact word is that I co-own it, because Yuta has half of the benefits and expenses, but I took over most of it. And… also, technically it’s a bakery, but we have dine-in” 

“Is it good? Where is it located?” 

“It’s called  _ DochiMochi _ ” explained Doyoung, cheeks feeling hot when he said the corny name of his establishment out loud for the make-up artist that’s looking at him like  _ that _ “It’s in Insadong”

“Insadong? It must be chill, I should go visit once” Doyoung was about to give one of his best toothy smiles to him, but the shock got him faster when Jaehyun grabbed his wrists and pushed him onto a chair so fast that he almost screeched. “Now here, sit down, we need a trial for that look”

“What!? No no no" choked Doyoung, dragged out of his comfort zone by the warm hands of Jaehyun abruptly. "Use Taeyong, I don’t do makeup and all of that!” 

His petition was absolutely ignored by the make-up artist and, of course, Taeyong was enjoying the scene way too much to even try to say something to help him out of the situation. The idiot was having one of his squeaky laugh attacks as he clapped his hands, Doyoung could perfectly hear it behind him when his butt flopped on the chair’s cushion, guided by Jaehyun and his hands over his shoulders. 

He was paralized, obviously, because being manhandled like that was something he hadn't experienced for a long time, and it gave him tingles on his lower stomach.

He tensed like a violin string. 

“It’s alright, it’s not like I need an experienced man for this'' sang Jaehyun, his usage of words contributing to Doyoung’s disquieted spirit. “We just need to test some colors so Taeyong can choose the best tones to match the outfit, it’s simple. Taeyong, bring those fabric samples here” 

“On my way”

“I-”

“Don’t whine, Doie” cut Taeyong before his friend could nag him and try to wiggle out of Jaehyun’s hold. "I brought you to help me, after all”

He had betrayed Taeyong earlier, so he knew his friend would be having his revenge, specially after Doyoung had expressed his awe for Jaehyun’s looks 

“You’ll go to Hell one good day, Yong”

“He has a thing with Ten” joked Jaehyun, looking at a terrified Doyoung sitting on his chair. “Believe me when I say that he must be there already. Now close your eyes”

The back of Jaehyun’s hand caressed his eyelids to highlight the direction he had given. 

Doyoung was speechless and ended up obliging and shutting his eyes just as he was told, letting Jaehyun get dangerously close to him to apply that paint he was discussing with Taeyong earlier. 

Jaehyun was delicate and precise. The wet, slow stroke over his eyelash gave him goosebumps and he had to clutch a hand on his jeans in order to not fist Jaehyun’s hoodie in the impulse. 

“It’s too metallic” commented Taeyong. “Do you have a more gentle silver? More like moon dust”

“Moon dust” repeated Jaehyun amused by the descriptions used by the designer. “We’ll try that”

Doyoung was going to bite Taeyong as soon as they got out of there, especially when he felt Jaehyun turning towards his table to pick up more products to test on him, keeping him under the subtle, alluring touch of brushes on his hands. 

Doyoung still had his eyes closed, but he scrunched his nose with the click of Taeyong’s phone camera.

“Fuck you”

“Save them for later, Taeyong” said the make-up artist, coming back to them and leaning closer to Doyoung, turned his guinea pig. “He’s going to be prettier when I’m done with him"

Doyoung's stomach flipped over. That wasn't the safe choice at all but oh boy was he thriving. 

"Do you like this one better?” asked Jaehyun to the designer, pointing at his art done upon Doyoung’s face with the end of his brush. 

“Yeah, this one is perfect, it’s more pearly” 

“It’s actually pearlescent, look” Jaehyun held Doyoung’s face up between his thumb and index, making him angle his head under the led lights of the mirrors. 

He almost gasped, opening his eyes with the confusion shading them profusely as he held Jaehyun’s gaze. Both their eyes were glittering under the white lights of the studio

“Isn’t it lovely?” he whispered, close to Doyoung. 

“It is” answers Taeyong, foreign to the exchange, which makes Jaehyun shake his head and move to the table again.

“Alright. Now, lipstick”

“Oh god, no” whined Doyoung. 

“Don’t worry, it’s going to be only a little bit of color, something very neutral and natural” 

Even if he complained, Jaehyun had already whipped out a lipstick bar and pressed it to the center of his bottom lip, tugging from it with the slow drag of the color as Doyoung tried not to let his body jolt with excitement. 

Because they had just met and this could not be happening to him because there wasn't such a thing as love at first sight. 

Whereas… attraction was a first sight, usually. 

“So, Taeyong, what are you doing in a couple of weeks?” asked Jaehyun as he fixed Doyoung’s lipsticks with the pad of his pinky. 

“What?” croaked the designer, taken with all of his guards. Naturally, because Doyoung was also surprised and the question was so abrupt for them as it would have been for anyone. “In a couple of weeks?”

“Yeah, I mean, the week after the next one, on Saturday. Birthdays? Plans? Are you booked?”

“I don’t think so” he said with an awkward chuckle. “Why are you asking”

“I am throwing a party at my house” he announced like it was the most usual thing to do in the weekly schedule. “ Would you like to come? I invited Ten, and I know he is going to invite you anyways”

“He-” stammered Taeyong. 

The designer probably had just stumbled across the things he wanted to know with going all the way there. 

“But Ten… he does things when he feels like instead of when they are supposed to be done, so I am taking the license of inviting you myself" he said that so airly, as of he didn’t care about what he just insinuated about Ten and Taeyong's relationship in the slightless. 

Doyoung was sure that he knew what he was doing and doing it on purpose, spilling his friend little secret to Taeyong who, by the other hand, couldn’t see well through his crush and insecurity.

Then he turned to Doyoung with a smile that made his eyes disappear behind crescent moon shapes and dimples pop out on his cheeks. 

"And since I don't have the nerve of making plans in front of someone who is not supposed to be invited, let me tell you, Doyoung, you can come around too"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, of course. I would love to have you" 

Taeyong was about to flip out, Doyoung knew that expression of his, but he was even more shocked than his friend. 

"Sure" said Doyoung, firm enough to surprise himself with the decision of running into the panic with open arms. Uh. That was new. "Then I'll be there" 

**____**

He felt stupid, to say the least. It was as if he had retroceded years in time and had become the same nerdy Doyoung that was the school class' president but had never kissed a girl. 

And yeah, a few years later he noticed that there was a more imperative reason for that, but the sensation hurt. 

It displeased Doyoung to be shaking as if this was his first date. It wasn't even a date, for that matter. 

Yet it felt like it. 

He was tipsy, with a cup of wine on his hand, his feet hanging on the air from the balcony of Jaehyun’s house and the aforementioned host sitting centimeters away from him. 

"So you have paced out of your comfort zone again now, isn't it?"

Doyoung giggled, looking away. Perhaps because the alcohol was making its way to his head or because he knew perfectly what Jaehyun was talking about.

Jaehyun was sharp enough to guess him well, and appealing enough to rip the rest from his tongue. 

They had been talking a little through the Instagram DMs from the moment Doyoung had mentioned him in his make-up look photo with that caption. 

"I guess it was time to step out from the comfort zone. Thank you @_jeogjaehyun and @RedStainStudio I may go along with another try"

He had never expected anything from that. Sure, a part of Doyoung wrote the caption fueled with the hope of doing something to the man, even if it was uncovering a slither of curiosity in him that made him want to know Doyoung as much as Doyoung had ended up craving to know him after he left. But he didn't expect it to work. 

Only half an hour into the picture being posted, Jaehyun liked it and replied "you should peak your head outta there more, you make a good view and canvas ;)"

He was speechless. 

Doyoung hadn’t even dared to tell Taeyong what he thought of Jaehyun once they left the studio. By the way his stupid designer friend was smiling at him, he was quite sure that Taeyong had noticed it either way, but if Doyoung said it out loud two things would happen.

First, he would have been recognising that he had liked the make-up artist? Which was too scary and out of the entire concept of romance that Doyoung had. 

And second, that Taeyong would have an excuse to get revenge. Because Doyoung kept telling him to value himself more stop thinking that Ten could find anyone better. Yet he would do the same and deny Jaehyun was being genuine and not amusing himself pulling Doyoung’s leg.

Then the next day the DM notification popped in and Doyoung thought he might throw his phone into the trashcan and run. 

But he wouldn't. He couldn’t let the shyness -or whatever that the feeling bubbling inside his stomach was- ruin something that could be… fun if not beautiful. 

[_jeogjaehyun]: hello, Doyoung

[_jeogjaehyun]: sorry to bump into your DMs like this but I had to try, you know

[_jeogjaehyun]: if you ever feel like trying make-up again, i'm always in need of someone willing to be the canvas

[_jeogjaehyun]: it's not like I can pay you a lot but you could rip 10k-60k won from me in a session 

[Do0_96]: oh, hi, Jaehyun. Thanks for thinking about me but… as i said, i actually don't do the make-up thing usually. Taeyong basically dragged me to the studio and the rest came along… you should ask him instead, no?

[_jeogjaehyun]: well, Taeyong has one vibe and you have another. It would be different. 

[_jeogjaehyun]: and… I can put my hand on the fire and say all Taeyong wants to do around me is his job and my friend

[_jeogjaehyun]: don't take me wrong i think that's pretty cool

[_jeogjaehyun]: i just don't think he wants to play crayons with me 

Doyoung had to stop to read the whole ordeal. 

He wasn't the type of man that is excited about make-up and flashy fashion. He thought that what Taeyong did was amazing and fascinating and he had mad respect for it, but it simply didn't call for his attention. 

It had never been a problem until he had to decide between make-up or lonely.

It was obvious that Jaehyun -who had invited him to his house for a party and talked with him on social media, the one that had allowed him to go all the way up to the second floor of his house and had seated with him in the lonely balcony when he found him hanging out alone- was interested. 

And it surprised Doyoung. 

It was a good type of surprise, but at the same time he didn't know how to act. Because if Jaehyun wanted… what Ten and Taeyong had, he was off to something else. 

He couldn’t do that. The strangers that have boiling chemistry and do it all over the place. Something inside him just… didn't allow it and made him feel uneasy. 

The casual sex without ties didn't do anything for him, really. If only, he turned uncomfortable, so it wasn't a choice.

That's why he was up there, and that's why he was unsettled due to Jaehyun’s presence. 

Because this was  _ intimate _ , and that was what he could do. The question was… what about Jaehyun. 

He gulped wine as if it was a poison for insecurity and then looked at the make-up artist. 

"You are talking about my make-up?" 

"Mostly. After you said you would think about helping me out I thought I lost you as a model" joked the younger airly. "But now I see you like this and I guess you weren't just giving me the runaround" 

"I thought it was only fair to come to your 'excess' matching the ambience. When in Rome do as Romans" 

"You did quite well, tho" 

"Taeyong did it" cleared Doyoung out. Yet, he was stupidly flattered by Jaehyun’s praise. "I'm just wearing it" 

"Enough" sentenced the younger, and that flattered Doyoung for real so he drank more. It was clearly affecting him already, because his fingers were a bit too tingly and his smile came out easier. "So then what? Why does make-up scare you like that, ain't just colors on your skin?" 

He laughed. "Bold to say that when you literally make a living out of it" 

"Because I'm shameless" joked Jaehyun, although the statement did wonders with Doyoung’s nerve endings, sparkling like champagne bubbles. "And I managed to make money with my mischievous deeds, but really, just coloring on faces" 

"It’s just something I'm not used to, that I don’t know about… it looks complex from my perspective, okay? And that’s… it's intimidating"

"It doesn’t have to be. Listen, you are friends with Taeyong, right? So you must know about fashion and how even though there's people that don't know anything about what goes on in the runaways, they still get dressed up. You may not read Vogue but you go to the store and think that your style is more relaxed than Taeyong's. You think you look better on shirts than blouses. You know black makes you look sexier" narrated the younger. And it fascinated Doyoung that he had hit the target with every point he made. Those were indeed his tastes. "Make-up is the same. You just need to find what makes you feel comfortable" 

"But… clothes are necessary for society living, whereas make-up is not" reasoned Doyoung, getting deep into their exchange. "I can do my daily life barefaced"

"And I can do my daily life without partying, and yet there are fifty-something people down there getting shit-faced" 

"There are not fifty-something people" giggled Doyoung, amused and clearly starting to be too tipsy to say he was  _ just _ tipsy. Jaehyun laughed with him, going down the same road. "There should be like… a hundred, at least"

"Whatever tho, it's funnier. But you see? Unnecessary but more fun" 

Doyoung could not deny that Jaehyun had a point. He also played with a handicap that was his pink, plush lips of an angel pronouncing words and distracting Doyoung from their meaning. 

Down two or more glasses, he started thinking he would agree with Jaehyun even if he tried to make the older jump from the balcony doing a triple corkscrew loop. 

"You think I need to have more fun, right?" He asked, a little bit sad. His friends had been trying to make Doyoung see that he was overworking and locking himself up, retracting into himself. And they were right, but Doyoung… he hadn’t found a trigger to ignite his passions. Yet. "I'm boring"

"I haven't said that at all"

"No, go ahead. Say it, I drive a boring adult life. It's gray and lacks something..."

"I don't need to say anything, Doyoung, you really are not boring at all" 

"You don't have to humour me, really" 

"Doyoung" called Jaehyun breathy, scooting closer to him. 

His system fired up, and the alcohol made his guts burn at low fire.

"Uh?" He asked, genuinely struck by the entire situation. 

"I'm alone with you during a party while my whole house is destroyed down there, do you think I would be here if I was bored? Say it honestly"

"No… I guess you wouldn't"

"I'm headstrong, you shouldn't argue with me" joked the man with a smile that betrayed his satisfaction for convincing Doyoung of his point. 

"Okay, so I'm not boring. But then I want to ask something to you still"

"Sure. Shoot it"

"Why are you here with me instead of down there. You have a whole party going on" 

"Well... I have had one too many glasses of wine that are going to kick at some point… tomorrow I'll have a headache and maybe regret my words, but to be honest… I'm just chasing after the pretty boy" 

"You are drunk" was the accusation Doyoung made, because it was easier than believing Jaehyun was being serious and not joking. 

Still, the man chuckled and downed the rest of his glass, raising it to Doyoung as if it was a toast. 

"You too, and you are still putting up with me while I talk nonsense. What's your point?" 

Doyoung chortled, since Jaehyun was right, he was drunk and the sincerity was overflowing from him. "I'm not used to being called 'pretty boy', so it's hard to believe" 

"What the fuck?" Said Jaehyun, his dimples popping so much on his soft cheeks. "How is that possible?"

Doyoung shrugs. "Yuta says that a lot of girls have too many coffees in our place because of me" he explains, the smile tugging from his lips as he pays some credit to his self-esteem. 

"See?"

"But I’m not that interested in the female gender so the praises kinda,  _ shuu,  _ go over my head, you know?" 

"So let me get this straight… well, not that straight" laughs Jaehyun. God, they should stop drinking, it's good that their glasses were empty now for a while. "My compliments count?"

"Count. After all, you are this hot" 

Jaehyun cocked an eyebrow up, and Doyoung knew he was being flirty. 

He had started it, though, but it was true. It was hard to ignore, given the fact that Jaehyun was only wearing burgundy slacks paired with the burgundy blazer of the set, no shirt in sight, only the plane of chest that showed on the wide open collar. 

He was fit, his pecs were defined under the pale skin. Probably the rest of his muscles were just as marked, and Doyoung wanted to prove it, deep down. Just because he had the scientific curiosity, of course, only to know the entire truth. 

"Am I? Don't you tell me…" 

Doyoung's body jolted as Jaehyun poked his side with his finger and snuggled closer to him with an impish smile. Their faces were too close for Doyoung to dodge the warmth of the breath that escaped through Jaehyun’s pink and slightly parted lips. 

His sharp eyes, dark and shiny, dropped to stare at the inviting mouth of the make-up artist, coated with a faint yet delicious look of tint. 

"Then why don't you go ahead and kiss me" crooned the younger.

Doyoung had to hold back the chill to not make it obvious for his eyes. His hand clasped on Jaehyun’s shoulder and pulled him back, pairing Jaehyun’s smile with one from his own cultivation. 

"No, I can't" 

Jaehyun looked at him surprised, now from a safer distance. 

"Why not?" He asked. 

He sounded disappointed enough to go through the thick layer of Doyoung's intoxication and draw a mark inside him that he would remember the next day. Because at the moment he was only acting by instinct and the thoughts were off. 

"Because I don’t know you" 

There was a single moment in which Jaehyun maintained his pose and his mouth was agape, but then it closed and he smiled again, nodding. 

Doyoung frowned at the small giggle. He wondered what was going on in his mind to laugh like that when he just rejected him.

Then he stopped. 

He had rejected Jaehyun. That was  _ so _ stupid. But at the same time, he knew it wasn't the time to jump into it. Sure, Doyoung’s skin tingled there where the make-up artist had touched, and his heart was beating at a worrying pace for having him around, but he… 

Why couldn't he do it? 

“I understand that”

“Do you?”

“Yeah. I mean… love at first sight sounds appealing but… only if it lasts at ever sight. You know what I mean?”

Doyoung gulped with full force. That was the thing that anyone had ever said to resonate so much with his thoughts and feelings. 

There wasn’t such a thing as love at first sight, really, he believed that firmly. But again, he knew the attractions at first sight existed. And after that, he could have faith in love at first kiss… in the development of feelings and blending of souls. 

"So…” continued Jaehyun, foreign to Doyoung’s elucubrations. “Besides the depth of the make-up world… what's out there that you fear?" 

"Uh?"

"Your comfort zone. When you tagged me in your picture, you talked about it, but what's in there? What composes Doyoung’s comfort zone?" 

In any other situation, Doyoung would have thought that Jaehyun was messing with him. But no, the younger was just leaning back, prompted on his arm and tracing the rim of his empty glass with a finger of his free hand. 

He was serious, and his eyes were low, focused on the slow circling around the glassware. 

Parties were really so unpredictable. 

"Why do you wanna know?"

“How honest do you want me to be when I answer that?” 

“Well, I think people usually want to be told the truth” joked Doyoung, kind of cocky. His capacity to retract into his shell was fluttering. “So be honest, why do you wanna know?”

Jaehyun hummed, and their eyes locked. 

“Because I feel kinda thrilled by the idea of wrecking it” 

“Are you challenging me?” asked Doyoung, letting out an incredulous and funny guffaw.

“I’m challenging myself” 

“Why in the world?”

“I don’t know, I just have the feeling that it would be worth it”

Doyoung tsk-ed and looked away. The night expanded beyond their feets hanging freely from the edge of the balcony and the blackness blanketed the landscape composed by the back gardens of the other one-family houses that surrounded Jaehyun’s. 

The older wondered if the make-up artist ever felt too lonely living by himself in such a big house, just as Doyoung felt too cold in his single bed at a shared flat. 

There was barely any star visible in the sky, but the myriad of small lights from far windows imitated the same magic effect so soon enough Doyoung understood that what Jaehyun was setting as his target wasn’t such a high hope. 

The man had already made his walls tremble, and the baker wondered how hard the push would need to be to break through his barriers or if Jaehyun possessed the strength. 

Looking back at his eyes lost on Doyoung’s perfectly cut side profile, at how his orbs felt like the melted chocolate ganache he poured over the Black Forest Cake at the bakery, he highly doubted that he lacked it. 

“I need another drink” he finally said, lifting his empty glass and wiggling it in front of the host. He bit down his bottom lip and honestly, he could feel an unusual tingle. “So we’ll probably be better if we go back to the crowd”

He stood up, trying to balance himself well on the railing. 

“I guess so” sighed Jaehyun under his breath, following Doyoung to stand up. 

He was so reluctant that Doyoung would have found it cute if he was able to notice that. 

"Maybe I should stop drinking too" joked the older, leaving the glass on the railings of the balcony. 

He would have never done that sober with the fear of it toppling over and breaking in pieces. 

But he knew that there was something that he would have probably done even if sober. 

Probably. 

He yanked Jaehyun towards him by the lapel of his burgundy blazer, rushing through the borders of the so mentioned zone of comfort that Doyoung never left willingly, bending his head to crash his lips against Jaehyun’s. 

And oh boy. 

Jaehyun’s mouth melted against his, humming with surprise and giving Doyoung the chance to slip his tongue between his lips, dancing against Jaehyun’s own. His thin fingers dug in Jaehyun’s brunette hair pulling him closer, the wet smack of spit making Doyoung get goosebumps. 

Jaehyun threw his arms around his waist too, completing a move that makes them tangle messily. 

But it was brief, and Doyoung pulled away breathless. 

He wondered how Ten and Taeyong managed to kiss hard wearing their fancy styles, because he felt the air brush on the wet patch of his cheek where the gloss that adorned his lips had smudged. 

“But I still think I fancy some more wine, I can still think” he said, holding Jaehyun’s gaze. 

The later whistled under his breath, barely processing the events yet but armed with the dumb smile that rose to his lips after Doyoung had thoroughly caressed them with his tongue to then act like nothing had happened there. 

He was into it, or at least that’s what Doyoung guessed, because the make-up artist dragged a hand through his hair and nodded. 

“Okay, let’s get back to the living room, I can recommend you some good choices for your drink”

They both left the balcony, quiet after the whatever-that-was moment they were leaving behind, strolling through the empty hallway of the upper floor towards the staircase.

Doyoung tried to guess the distribution of the house by the mere glance of the doors, which were all closed with the exception of the toilet that had made him visit the floor in question by a kind suggestion of the host -since the bottom one was probably in a degenerative state as the night went by. 

There seemed to be three more stances up there, and Doyoung wished that one of them was an ironing room or some sort of spare room the moment they passed in front of it and his ears caught the muffled tone of Taeyong’s breath having a remarkable type of fun. 

He rolled his eyes and smirked subtly as he went down the stairs by Jeaheyun’s side. Taeyong was his friend, after all, so deep down he was happy that the idiot, as messy as he was, got away with his plan of seducing Ten like some kind of homme fatale on lipstick and eye jewels. 

“What do you think of our friends? Taeyong and Ten, I mean. Do you think they are in for the long run?”

“Of course they are” nodded Jaehyun. “The moment I saw him cross the door of my studio I knew Ten had a reason to talk nonstop about him”

“Yeah, Taeyong is gorgeous, he always steals everyone’s hearts… we are dealing with some congestions of traffic in the Taeyong’s pants lane, it causes some problems all year round” 

“Nah, I didn’t mean that”

“You don’t think he is handsome?” inquired Doyoung, truly intrigued by the answer. Since Jaehyun had called him pretty he would be assuming he thought the same or more about Taeyong, yet he sounded disinterested. 

In fact, the younger shrugged. “He is okay, but I mean… I have known Ten for years now and Taeyong just fits perfectly, it just feels like they match. I don’t know, maybe I’m being too romantic” laughed the younger as Doyoung’s chest shrinked at the display of such a dreamy mindset. “Thinking that people have their perfect type out there, but I think so, and I think they are a pair”

“Yeah? Well, Taeyong says he is figuring out, but I think he knows he is in deep”

“Ten too, but he fancies himself some fucking missery. He is stupid, and that’s why they are here fighting over each other tonight as if they wanted anything that’s not the other. It’s so funny”

Doyoung laughed, agreeing with the younger. 

They were the patient friends that have to watch the couple do the stupid ass shit because it wouldn’t be fair to interfere between them and fix their thing just because they had to know how to do it themselves. 

“We are the complaisant chaperones, uh? Can’t do anything but watch them fight and make up”

“I already did enough” sighed Jaehyun humoured, finally arriving at the kitchen and opening a fancy cabinet to take out an entire bottle of champagne. It looked very fancy and expensive but he wiggled it in front of Doyoung with a rogish yet cute smile. “I was saving this for an especial ocasion, but let’s be honest, I always spend holidays by myself or with my parents so I would do a better use if I share it”

“With me?” Asked Doyoung, leaning on the kitchen table and giving in to this flirty exchange once the wine had entirely filtered into his bubbly blood. 

“Yeah”

“Okay then, pop that bottle” he conceded, and Jaehyun did so, sending the cork to hit something across the kitchen that made them both widen their eyes and burst into laughter afterwards, as Jaehyun poured the liquid into their empty glasses. “But, by the way, why did you say you did enough? What did you do?”

“Well, first off” began the make- up artist, letting his own butt lean against the same table, his shoulder brushing against Doyoung’s wide ones. He stopped for a second to observe the prominent bone of Doyoung’s clavicle peeping through the see-through material of the shirt and that was visible with the luminosity of the indoor lighting. He licked his lips and pushed the thought of latching his mouth on it aside. “I invited Taeyong to this party knowing that Ten was going to be a jerk, so theoretically, I’m a jerk too because I upset him. In fact, Ten is going to murder me wthe moment his brain spares me a thought instead of going all wild over Taeyong”

“Well, I think you propelled Taeyong to face his feelings, nothing more. Harsh but... necessary” 

“Yeah… and I kissed him”

Doyoung was about to spit the first sip of champagne he took, but he battled with his mind to swallow the expensive verbiage that, anyways, tasted splendidly good and fruity as expected from the bottle. 

The existence of the traffic congestion at Taeyong’s lane attacked him again, with more reasons at that moment. Could the other man in the world get a fucking chance?

He wiped his mouth after gulping, just in case something had spilled, and cleared his throat to avoid choking. “You did?”

“A little bit” Jaehyun nodded. “Just for the face Ten made when he saw it. If he is mad at me for sparking the flame of this situation, I thought I may as well make it blow completely so they don’t waste the opportunity”

“Oh…”

“Don’t worry though… I’m not into strawberry” he said. Something told Doyoung that he was dallying with him, most likely his smirk, or the tilt of his body towards him, or the fact that they were alone again in a party of thousands in which the man was supposed to be in charge. “I get a better kick from wine and cake icing” 

He was glad that they had returned to the lower floor to fill their glasses because he needed a whole gulp from his glass to find an excuse to not answer to that direct attack.

Jaehyun must be a very competitive person when it comes to his own challenges, because there was Doyoung, drowning into the Fear Zone. 

And they still had two stages to go. 

**____**

_ The comfort zone is a behavioral state within which a person operates in an anxiety-neutral condition, using a limited set of behaviors to deliver a steady level of performance, usually without a sense of risk. There are three stages to visit when stepping out of said zone, which are the Fear Zone, the Learning Zone and the Growth Zone.  _

That’s what the psychologists said, and the best part of it -noting the irony here- was that there wasn’t a clear roadmap to exit this state. 

So what was Doyoung doing after finding out that the hottest man of Seoul had challenged himself to drag him out of that comfortable, warm, cosy little crany of his behavioural pattern?

Furiously baking a cake, he couldn’t do a lot more. 

Well, to be more precise, he was already getting ready to decorate it, with a whole pipe of white icing on his hand that reminded him with insistency what the words of Jaehyun had been three days ago at his kitchen during that roof-lifting party. 

“So Taeyong did get laid?” chortled Yuta by his side, behind their bakery’s kitchen counter. “I knew it, there’s no man that doesn’t fall on the fly trap he becomes when he gets fired up” 

Doyoung grunted. For sure, Taeyong’s acts of spite didn’t spare no one. Not even Jaehyun. 

“Yuta, can you get those croissants done, please? Breakfast busy time is coming and we need those on display in ten minutes” 

“Chill, Do, they are in the oven already. Jeez, I thought you would get more loose after a party weekend but I guess I was wrong, you are just as tense and grumpy as always”

“I’m not grumpy” protested the younger, spinning the base of the cake to spread the icing of his cake with a flat tool. The rainbow cake with white filling was one of the most requested orders they got lately, since it looked good and flashy in people’s pictures for their instagram stories, but they took ages to get ready. “I’m working, and you should too. You know how this store slash cafeteria gets when the clock hits nine o’clock” 

“The showcase is full of cakes, cookies and pastry, Doyoung. You are going to have to squeeze that monster cake in between the oreo cake and the cheesecake” pointed Yuta, being actually right about the showcase at their front desk being full to the brim. “We have inventory to feed a regiment”

“More money for us”

Yuta sighed, and then he laughed underbreath, brushing the green edges of his hair back to pin them with hairpins. 

“Did something happen? Is it about that hot dude you mentioned the other day?” Doyoung’s body stiffened and so Yuta was absolutely sure that he had hit the target. He leaned further into the counter with that aah expression on him, his naughty smile playing with his lips. “Did I get it right? You have a secret, uh?” 

“Don’t say stupid things”

“Is it so stupid? I don’t really think that’s the case” 

There was a small ring from the door of the bakery indicating that someone was coming in, which was the perfect excuse for Doyoung to shove Yuta away from him and try getting rid of his annoying questions. 

“Go to dispatch customers, I’m going to finish frosting this cake”

Yuta rolled his eyes, fed up with Doyoung’s stubbornness about not sharing the fun stuff from his life and nodded, throwing the cloth he was using to dry trays away and going to the counter to attend the clients that started arriving at breakfast hour just like Doyoung had foreseen. 

The younger of both didn’t know what he was like that either, so attached to his sentiments and reluctant to talk out loud about it. He guessed there was a psychological explanation for it, but he didn’t have time for those matters. Or maybe not enough urge to go and discover it, he simply lived with his quirks like everyone else and risked to be called boring because the way people perceived him was not his problem, but the other’s. 

Not to sound mean or anything, it was just that he believed in himself and liked the way he was, so if other’s didn’t like him, they didn’t need to stick with him. He already had good friends that respected the way he was. 

Even Jaehyun said he wasn’t boring. That rips a smile from him as he proceeds to pipe some blue frosting decorations around the cake. 

Doyoung had already confessed to Taeyong and Johnny that he liked Jaehyun during their heartfelt conversation at his room the morning after the party. 

He had woken up in bed cuddled with Taeyong after a wild trip that began at Jaehyun’s living room, propelled by the suggestion of the make-up artist to play Truth or Dare right after Ten and Taeyong showed up with brand new smiles on their faces indicating that they had made peace -and banged linke animals in heat, Doyoung knew that but kept it secret. 

In that moment he had wondered if Jaehyun had some ulterior intention starting that game, but it could have been anything because, by the time the couple got to them, Jaehyun and Doyoung had downed half of the champagne bottle by themselves and they were having the time of their life sitting on the couch while everyone lost it across the living room. 

How did Taeyong manage to pass out before him if he started the game sober was a fucking mystery. Well, not really, Taeyong’s alcohol tolerance was below the bare minimum. But until they got to the point where he fainted, they had fun. 

It all started with Jaehyun smiling behind his glass. 

_ “Doyoung, truth or dare?” _

_ “Truth” _

_ “What’s in your comfort zone?” _

A chuckle.  _ “Dare” _

_ “I dare you to tell me” _

Ten and Taeyong, as well as Mark who joined them to see what they were doing, looked at them alternatively wondering what the heck was going on and what they had missed for the two of them going so off-beat. 

For his part, Doyoung had locked his eyes with Jaehyun, looking quite sure about his next move, which was unclasping the silver bracelet that he was wearing, wrapped around his wrists and tossing it to Jaehyun. 

_ “I remove a piece. Next”  _

Jaehyun caught the jewelry on the flight and didn’t even complain about it technically not being clothes before putting it in his pocket. 

As Doyoung spinned the cake on the base to check everything was in the right place and cut it in pieces to serve, he remembered that he had never returned it to him and his wrist was now bare. 

Something in that fact amused him a little. 

He shook his head and moved on to find the long knife for cakes that Yuta had left before leaving. 

“Yuta, the rainbow cake is done” he announced, preparing it in the neatest plate he had to go and try to squeeze it in between the others. 

“Cool” nodded the other, going back to the kitchen. “Put it on the display and attend the rest of the line while I take the croissants out of the oven and fill them”

“Do more chocolate than cream, they sell better”

“Fine”

Doyoung balanced the cake on his hands and pushed through the door to the main parlor of the bakery with a nice customer service smile. 

The interior of the bakery was corny, but it humoured Doyoung anyways with the cream walls and tables and the baby blue accents of chairs and table mats, as well as the charming blue glow of the neon sing they had recently added to the wall of the dine-in area that read '#mochiselfie'.

It was an idea from his japanese co-worker and it had really propelled their visits because of the social media sharing. 

People were already lining up to order, and at the front of it. 

There was the amicable grandma that brought her granddaughter every Monday to have breakfast there. The small kid smiled back at Doyoung as soon as she saw him enter with that cake concretely, so Doyoung left it on the counter straight away because he knew she would order it. 

It was the least he could do knowing that that woman was spending that regular amount in his establishment and the child looked at him with the biggest, shiniest eyes in the earth. 

He prepared the big mug with warm milk and the green tea for the grandma and handed it out, then put a nice slice of rainbow cake on a plate with flowers and leaned on the counter to give it away to the little girl that he knew enjoyed to receive her plate herself. 

He was practically leaning on top of the counter to reach her height and check the plate didn’t wobble when he let it go when he heard that deep, gentle voice that had been engraved in his mind lately. 

“How cute is that?”

“Jaehyun!” he exclaimed, rushing to get back at his feet and straight. The shock had betrayed him to get that loud and startled and Jaehyun found a reason to chuckle in that. Doyoung tried to act like he didn’t jolt in front of him just a second prior. “Welcome, I’m happy to see that you decided to pay a visit. Can I get you something you like?” 

“Do you have a menu? Since it’s my first time I can check it and move from the line to not obstruct it while I decide” 

“A menu? Yeah, wait” said Doyoung, trying to disguise his nerves as the normally hectic pace of a monday morning. He grabbed one of the cardboard menus they had resting near the cashier and a little business card, all perfectly crafted and matching colors. “Here you go. For the pastries we always have different stuff so you can ask if you want something. This little business card has an empty table at the back, we can stamp it everytime you purchase something and with ten stamps you get a free item”

“Really? I guess then that I’ll have to be coming back repeatedly to amortize it” 

Doyoung nodded, trying to not smile from ear to ear or let his hands shake, and meanwhile, Jaehyun moved aside from the line and prompted his arms on the counter to examine the list of products that  _ DochiMochi  _ Bakery offered. 

“Tell me that’s the guy” murmured Yuta onto his ears making Doyoung almost screech and knock the tray of croissants he had carried. The gesture was enough. “Oh my fuck, he is, right? Let me dispatch these people, you go there and give him the baker’s special recommendation”

“We don’t have that!” hissed Doyoung. 

“You are the baker, invent them!”

"You are also the baker"

"I'm not trying to bed him"

"Me neith-" 

Yuta was not willing to listen to his bullshit, bumping his hip against Doyoung’s to make him almost trip and land in front of Jaehyun. 

The make-up artist looked up, puzzled. Doyoung thanked god for the sporadic naivety of Jung Jaehyun so he didn't guess what was going on in his mind, but that only made him cuter to his eyes. 

He smiled at Doyoung anyways. And it was blinding. 

The man was on his best boyfriend look, with his soft brunette hair down, wearing jeans and a black t-shirt and topping it all with a brownish pink cardigan. 

It was not like the looks were all for Doyoung, but in Jaehyun’s case it was impossible to ignore them. And besides, he had already tried the compatibility of their lips and the result was amazing. 

"Do you want some recommendations? Since it’s your first time" 

"Sure" smiled Jaehyun, putting the menu on the table between them. He was about to take the opportunity in his favour, Doyoung saw it in his smile when he held his gaze. "I want something warm and something sweet" 

Translation of that phrase? Lean over the counter and kiss me on the lips. 

That's what Doyoung wanted to think it meant, at least, but he couldn't be sure of it being the case, nor of him wanting to rush things like that. 

Acting impulsively was not his vibe, and he was also shy of doing that in front of everyone in the cafeteria. Not to mention the sheer embarrassment if he was wrong and Jaehyun didn't mean anything else than him wanting something for breakfast. 

"Do you like coffee?" Asked Doyoung instead. 

"Sure" 

"I like the macchiato, Yuta makes it well. If you want something more thrilling we also serve a blend of espresso with matcha" 

"I think it's going to be a macchiato, then, I'm not so bold when it comes to tastes" 

"Good choice. And something sweet to eat…" Doyoung brushes his upper lip with the tip of his tongue, wondering if he should put his feet out of the zone that Jaehyun so thoroughly wanted to break. He shook his head with a laugh under his breath. "I prepare different cakes everyday, from the ones that we have today, the strawberry shortcake trifles are fresh for breakfast and the berry chantilly cake is… ugh, is mouthwatering if I say so myself" 

Jaehyun took a couple of short steps to look at said cakes through the glass of the showcase, his arms folded over his chest and his demeanour carefree and attractive. 

He was a menace. 

"You are telling me that you make all these cakes with your hands?"

"Yeah?" Asked Doyoung confused. He pointed at one with whipped mascarpone topping and jam and berries between the soft sponge layers. It was also decorated with fresh berries and green leaves at the top. "This one is the berry chantilly" 

"They look amazing, I thought they were factory cakes" 

"I'm not doing discounts, no matter how much you praise me" he joked, trying to defend himself in some way. 

"Unfortunate, but I was being hands down real" laughed the younger, brushing his hair back and then prompting his elbow on the counter. He looked out of a 90s love movie. "I'm definitely having a slice of that luscious cake, note one" 

Doyoung nodded and wrote the order down, just for invoice reasons. "Take-out or dine-in?" 

"I'm not a coffee take-out person" 

"Neither am I" 

Jaehyun’s eyebrows lifted with a playful smile as Doyoung ripped the paper from the memo pad and shoved it on Yuta's hand. 

"One cafe macchiato. Hot" he said quickly, grabbing a plate and a knife to go for the slice of cake. 

Of course, Jaehyun followed his moves from the other side of the counter and stood across the glass panels of the showcase, watching the older slice the monster cake -of three layers with all the jam, frosting and berries in between- carefully to place it on the plate flawlessly. 

There was no doubt that they nailed the looks, if the taste was as good it would explain DochiMochi's rating that Jaehyun had found online in Naver when he searched for the location. 

"So you are the type to sit on a table with calm and enjoy your warm drink" inquired Jaehyun. 

"Yes. I think there's something therapeutic in those moments. People calls it self-care and I agree" 

"So? Why if I treat you to a slice of your own cake?" 

Doyoung stopped on his track in his way to pick up a spoon. 

He lifted his eyes to Jaehyun, who was looking back at him. His eyes were made of a sea of calm and confidence in which the baker wished to drown and never be rescued from. 

He was all of Doyoung's standards and that was so unfair for his poor heart. 

"That wouldn't be self-care, it would be you caring me"

"And is that so wrong?" 

"That's not wrong" accepted Doyoung, handing the plate to the make-up artist and taking the luxury of putting his finger on his mouth to lick off the mascarpone cream that had stained him as an extra gift for his customer. "But I’m in the middle of my shift" 

"And... Do you need to pay rent very hard?" Joked Jaehyun, taking the rejection hit well. 

Doyoung laughed along. "I like to sleep under a roof, so… yeah" 

"Sad" 

Doyoung hummed, and under his nonchalant look, he was full of gloom as he watched Jaehyun walk off towards the tables. 

He chose to stay in one of the small tables that were close to the window and that threw luminity from the morning sun from the outside, pulling out a bunch color pencils and a thick, worn out notebook. 

The baker spaced out for a hot minute, attentive of the scene going on in front of his eyes once Jaehyun was settled in their dine-in area and sipping from his macchiato calmly. The young girl that had ordered the rainbow cake -and who was barely seven or eight- approached Jaehyun and poked his arm with her finger, calling for his attention to next point at the papers over the table. The man smiled and tilted the notebook to the side so she could take a peek at what he was drawing, while her grandma called her with gestures to ‘stop annoying that handsome man’. 

Cheers to that, ma’am, he was so attractive it was almost illegal to kill his vibe when he was just contributing to the universe with his nurturing, calming stance. 

Yet Jaehyun, of course, waved his hand indicating that he was okay with the child going around him and Doyoung, despite not noticing it in himself, smiled like a fool. 

Watching how a man acts around kids can determine a red or green flag, that was something Doyoung knew. He wasn’t really doubting that Jaehyun was a man covered in green, but it was nice to see. And it was nice to witness how it happened in his establishment because Jaehyun had kept their word and visited.

The client in front of Doyoung clearing his throat was the only thing that took him out of his trance, painting his cheeks and ears with an incriminating red as he straightened his apron. 

“Excuse me, ma’am. What would you like to order?”

“I wonder if it would be possible to get one of the cakes for a birthday party. The entire thing”

“We elaborate cakes upon request. It has to be pre-booked one day ahead, but if you have time I can show you the options. We can also add decorating requests”

“Sure, can I have the menu?” 

Doyoung nodded, giving the paper that Jaehyun had been previously checking out to the woman in front of him. That felt strangely bad, as if Doyoung wanted to keep that piece of menu -from which they had a thousand copies piled on the counter- just because it was a token of Jaehyun’s visit.

“Here are the types of cakes we offer. If any of them seems suitable, we can talk about details”

“What are you doing” mustered Yuta, coming back to Doyoung once he served a paper bag full with a box of croissants and two venti size cups of orange juice to the couple that had been waiting at the end of the line. 

“Sell a cake, I think?” asked the younger confused and almost annoyed. “Like we usually do here, in the bakery. Get yourself together”

“No. I mean, yeah, precisely” scowled Yuta, crossing his arms over his chest and popping his hip out. It had Doyoung already rolling his eyes without knowing more, but there was no stopping the japanese. “Say, he is that boy from the party, right? What’s his name again?”

Doyoung pressed his lips on a line, knowing the direction in which Yuta was looking. 

“Jaehyun”

“He is cute”

“I know, I have eyes” nodded Doyoung, ignoring what his co-worker was trying. He wiped out a cloth and started cleaning the counter. “How does that change that I’m selling a cake?”

“How does it  _ not  _ change it? Join him, shit. He has come all the way from wherever the fuck to Insandong at 9am just to see you, or do you think he can’t get coffee somewhere closer to his job?”

No, not even Doyoung was going to say it didn’t look like it looked. It was so clear that Jaehyun had visited  _ DochiMochi  _ for Doyoung and not for the menu. Yet, admitting that in front of Yuta was not among his options just because he said so himself. 

“I’m in the middle of working hours” 

“You are always in the middle of working hours, that’s what happens when you only work” pointed out Yuta. 

That actually made the corners of the younger’s lips drop towards the floor. Since he was absolutely right with his accusation, Doyoung only seemed to know how to drown himself in work lately. 

It had been a couple of years already since he worked avidly, but in the recent months he had worsened. Perhaps because, if he kept his mind busy with recipes, coffee and bills, his mind wouldn’t drift anywhere else to remind him that he was growing older and all the people his age seemed to be matching up with their couples and establishing plans for their future together. 

Some adopted cats, some looked for apartments, others designed outfits for their model boyfriend -because Ten and Taeyong where so even if they denied it, Doyoung had proved that already when they saw them interact during the party- and others sat together to watch netflix movies fantasizing about their future cottage. 

Doyoung felt like he was behind in all of that. 

The only embrace he had at night was his pillow, and his major source of heat was the oven when he opened it to take out cakes. 

“So what are you suggesting I do? Leave my spot to… to flirt with this man who… is way upon my league and-”

“Wo, wo, wo… what are you even talking about? Way upon your league?” cut Yuta, still looking at the man that, calm on his chair, was now drawing in silence. “He is just an intense ass nerd who sketches at cafes, I don’t think he is a womanizer, a panty dropper or something like that”

Doyoung clicked his tongue and stole a glance at the woman at the other side of the country to make sure she was immersed in the cake list instead of the conversation he was having with his friend. 

He bit his lip. “You think that I have possibilities?”

“Oh, come on! Is that what happens? You are doubting yourself?”

“Maybe” confessed Doyoung. “I just find him really appealing and a bit intimidating. But that’s not… that’s not what stops me. After all he came here for me, I’m not blind”

“Then what is it?”

“I don’t believe in flash romance”

Yuta aah-ed and then juted his lips on an interesting expression. The older was sort of annoying at times, he liked to tease Doyoung a lot too… but the latter had learned with time that the japanese was actually very good at deep thoughts and he recognized on his eyes that they were in one of the moments where Yuta started taking the conversation seriously. 

“You want something real with him” 

“I guess so” sighed Doyoung. “Is not like I can predict what would it be like, or how he really is, but he has something that makes me want to know him in the slow, calm way”

“Then there’s more reasons for you to be there sharing a cup of coffee with him. Don’t stand the poor man up, it’s Monday morning… have mercy”

Doyoung stared at Jaehyun, debating the suggestion Yuta had given him. 

There was no doubt that he felt attracted by the make-up artist, his heart was giving it away when it pounded hard at the vision and the thought of getting closer to him to share a conversation over breakfast. 

He remembered what had happened the last time they met, when they were alone in the balcony and the night was the only thing around them. The taste of his tongue, the way their bodies fitted together. The urge he had felt to kiss him and that he had blamed alcohol for at that moment. 

He had nothing to blame now.

“Sir, is it possible to order the red velvet cake naked?” asked the customer, snapping Doyoung awake again. 

Yuta moved in the way before he could answer. “Yes, ma’am, we have done that before. How many servings would the cake be?”

He sighed, but a smile played with his lips and he patted Yuta’s hip as a thank you gesture. 

Yuta winked at him and muttered and “I made you a cappuccino, it’s on the coffee machine” 

Doyoung couldn't barely believe himself as he walked out from behind the counter with his hot coffee and platter warming his hands, but the smile spread on his face and he felt… right, a warm, tepid gush of something strange dropping on his stomach. 

He had forgotten this kind of thrill, the good type of nerves that doesn’t make you feel nauseuous and stupid but just giddy. And as he pushed through his -and Yuta's- own cafe, the sensation increased, he felt like he was about to burst. 

And almost without noticing, he was standing in front of the table and Jaehyun raised his eyes to meet his view. 

It was like a slow motion scene, one that played at his heart with the volume loud, watching every millimeter of Jaehyun’s smile grow little by little until it was at full bloom like a cherry blossom. 

"I have thought" started Doyoung, a bit quietly. "That there's still two weeks left until my rent is due" 

"First time I feel something good from when ends meet" 

Doyoung looked at the floor and smiled, sitting in the chair that remained empty across Jaehyun’s own. 

The make-up artist had a meek expression that quite floored Doyoung’s entire self. 

"So...you live alone?" Asked Jaehyun, just to start a conversation. 

One about Doyoung. 

The older man shook his head. "No, I live with my friend Johnny, we are roommates. It's convenient to pay for a nice place in the center of Seoul, you know? Better than to live in a cubicle with no windows"

"Less boring too, I guess" 

"Well… I work a lot so I don’t really have time to get bored at home" 

"Really?" 

Doyoung bit his lip down, knowing this was not a good thing to brag about. But he had already mentioned so what could he even do? Was he about to tell Jaehyun his terrible coping mechanism and confess he was the epitome of a lonely person? And what next? Beg him to end his loneliness? 

It would be so pathetic… yet vehement. 

"Yeah" he mutters. 

"Why?"

Doyoung laughed with the ugliest sound he had ever called a laugh, basically trying to save himself. 

"I just… I do this for almost all day. Come here, prepare pastries, open the store, get coffees ready, prepare cakes, sell them, more coffees, close the store, prepare cakes in advance… sleep, repeat" 

Jaehyun hummed, thoughtful, and in all honesty, Doyoung didn’t know what to think of said sound or his expression. 

"I'll write that down"

The older’s eyebrows were propelled up, under the black bangs that reached down on his forehead. "What will you write down and for what?" 

"I will write 'Doyoung’s comfort zone checklist: baking'" he smiled at the end of his phrase, satisfied with himself and then shipped from his coffee while Doyoung was collapsing and speechless. 

"Are you still thinking about that?" 

“Yep”

“Why? Were you even serious about what you said at the balcony?” asked Doyoung, watching Jaehyun nonchalantly eat the chantilly cake. 

“Dead serious, I will crack the walls around it” 

By all means he sounded self-confident and confident about what he was proclaiming. And although Doyoung sulked with his expression, his innermost thoughts cheered for Jaehyun’s convictions to become true. 

“Again why, why do you want to do that?”

“I honestly don’t know, I guess I really need to do some things with you that require you to be out of there” 

Doyoung sipped from his coffee before answering just to not look eager. He placed the cup on the platter slowly. 

“For example?”

“Well” Jaehyun leaned on his hand. “I think, for example, that make-up suits you well and if you found a style you liked you’d wear it more often”

“Don’t you have a list of models to help you with those things you want to do instead of pinning for my help?”

“For make-up? Yes. To invite them to go out for lunch? No”

“Hmm” Doyoung nodded and scanned the table with his eyes. He was just playing hard to get. “Do you like grilled eel?”

“What?” asked Jaehyun surprised as the smile threatened to conquer his lips. 

“Eating. Is something I can do, and I know a small place that serves the best grilled eel that you could order. Legit”

"Yeah? Then let's go eat together"

"Okay"

"Okay? Well, that's a start"

"A start? For what?"

“I can start with grilled eel now and someday I will get you in red lipstick”

“Red? No, there’s no way”

“Ah?” questioned the younger of the pair, and Doyoung knew he had a slip. “But then another color is okay?”

“It’s… it’s…” spoke Doyoung haltingly. “It’s not as impossible as red”

Jaehyun had the most victorious smile Doyoung had ever seen but it didn't piss him off like the ones he got from his friends. It quite amused him more than anything, which was another sign that he was all in for the man. 

It was official that he had a crush on Jung Jaehyun. If that wasn't clear at that point, which for Doyoung -who liked to take his time of resear in this cases- maybe wasn't.

"Noted too. No red lipstick. Yet" he teased. 

Because he was absolutely teasing Doyoung on purpose and he could notice that.

"Well, congratulations" hummed the baker with his eyes on the table, watching how Jaehyun fidgeted with the spoon. 

"For?"

"I think I underestimated your power to fulfill your goal" 

Jaehyun crackled up. "Are you going to front harder now that you know I was being legit?"

"Maybe" answered Doyoung, tilting his face up to stand eye to eye with Jaehyun. "Maybe I just sit back and watch you do it" 

That seemed to surprise Jaehyun, but Doyoung knew it was normal given the fact that it was the first time he saw Doyoung let a layer of his barrier fall. 

At least while sober. 

"That's… good to hear" 

"Is it?" 

Jaehyun hummed and nodded, taking another bite of the cake.

"How come?"

"You know? Sometimes you make me think that I stand a chance with you" just said Jaehyun in his continued honesty with the baker. "But who knows, maybe I'm all wrong. I just need to find out"

"It has only been a couple of times that we have spent together" thought Doyoung out loud. "How many chances have you even had to think that and stand corrected?" 

"It's an amateur move, uh?" Joked the younger softly. "But I see you for like… 5 minutes and you make my day so… yeah, that’s why it's good to hear" 

"You say this to all your boys?" Questioned Doyoung, even though his heart was way ahead of his mouth, beating like a drum with the soft words of the make-up artist and his breath outpaced. 

"There are no other boys" grinned Jaehyun, shaking his head. "But I appreciate the greed" 

Doyoung had to laugh, and he laughed because he didn’t know what was going on. 

They felt so clearly attracted to each other and they also knew about it, because it was so blatantly obvious. And nonetheless they both kept doubting it intermittently and playing an intriguing love game. 

It was a stupid situation but it was oh, so likeable. 

And perhaps it was true that Doyoung needed something different and vibrant like this to get out of his vicious circle. Something bright enough in the outside so he would crawl out of his cave. 

"How is the cake?" Simply asked Doyoung to continue the conversation. "Did I fail my recommendation?" 

"It's delicious, truly. You should give me a recipe"

"Doyoung’s comfort zone checklist: baking" reminded the very same baker, dipping a finger on the mascarpone cream of Jaehyun’s plate without further warning to scoop it and take it to his mouth. "I can  _ teach _ you how to make it" 

"That would be safer than letting me play with the oven by myself" 

A little lie doesn’t hurt anyone. Jaehyun was not bad at cooking at all, nor was he a potential danger when he was around the oven, but Doyoung didn’t need to know that yet. 

"But let’s get grilled eel first"

Jaehyun nodded. 

The older was lost in the sea of whatever they had. He was living for the shrinking of his chest, the cold sweats and the stirring on his stomach with the strange feeling being welcomed in his system everytime Jaehyun smiled and his dimples popped out. 

The connection… he couldn’t explain it, but it was there and it wasn’t going to go. 

It was the right time, the right place and the right person that people often talked about while trying to explain the bloom of something new. 

It was the soft spot. 

"Hey, Doyoung" called Yuta’s voice, almost scaring his co-worker from being pulled out of his daydream. "Don't wanna bother you, but there's a lady and her wedding planner at the counter that wants to order a wedding cake. Custom decorations and all. For what they told me, I extracted that she wants an expensive, big thing. She must be planning quite the blow-out wedding, so I guess that's a task for you, friend" 

He stole a quick glance at an amused Jaehyun and puffed, getting up. 

"I guess Taeyong was right. Everyone wants to marry during this season, for some reason" he numbles, taking his empty coffee cup with him. "Sorry, Jaehyun, I have to go. I fear grooms and brides with wedding planners, they could stab you if one flower on the cake is one centimeter from where it should" 

"Comprehensible" nodded Jaehyun, not giving away the actual shame of having to wave goodbye so soon. "A bride's sister once cried her eyes out in my chair because I said I had to correct her lip liner. The overreaction was spectacular" he laughed, reminiscing. 

Doyoung’s heart felt a jab suddenly. 

With such stupid anecdote he noticed that he might have more in common with a make-up artist that he guessed at first. 

Well, two worlds are never that far if you have will enough. 

Maybe they were not so different. 

"Free this Friday night?" Asked Doyoung in full voice, surprising Yuta for the best and making Jaehyun nod. "You know Ssamziegil Mall's basement?"

"I know where it is"

"Let's meet there then. Lunchtime" 

"I'll be there" he grinned. 

Yuta could barely believe his ears as Doyoung, his workaholic friend, fixed a date during the lunch break on a Friday. When Doyoung had all that free time he usually ate alone at the kitchen and took the spare time to obsessively replace all the cake slices on the plates and in the shelves for better display after they were cut. And now he was ditching it. 

"Do you want anything else? Another coffee?"

Jaehyun shook his head. "Just the bill. I have a fifteen minutes walk to the studio and I'm definitely stepping into the opening schedule lines with this breakfast location" 

"Was it worth it?"

"Do you doubt it?" 

**____**

It was a simple day of summer. The heat of the sun was slipping inside the one-family house and mixing with the heavy temperature that raised from the oven as a nice, spongy layer of vanilla cake rose inside. 

Subsequently, Jaehyun had a heady sheen of sweat glazing his skin and he had gotten rid of his denim jacket, leaving Doyoung with the view of the man in a white t-shirt tucked in light colored jeans to admire. 

The short sleeves let the baker witness Jaehyun’s strong biceps and the prominent veins under his pale skin.

Despite the results they got from the cake, Doyoung was sure in his mind that he would be having a nice treat that day, because for a good change in his life, he wasn’t feeling so mild. And he may or may not have a thought of Jaehyun putting him on the kitchen counter not so politely slipping in his mind.

He wouldn’t have minded to be railed right against the counter by a man like him. The human mind is really unpredictable sometimes, being Doyoung the one that had told himself and Jaehyun that this wouldn’t be the rapid rise and fall of a rollercoaster but more like the gentle stroll of a boat down a river. 

He thought that it was all worth it. 

Sure he was getting certainly attacked by the magnetic pull that radiated from the younger and that he made him want to throw the patience out of the window at moments like that, but it was also too pleasurable to have him around giving Doyoung the type of company that he lacked. 

For Doyoung that was more valuable than anything else, because the icicle that was forming inside him and getting ready to kill his heart was melting around Jaehyun. 

He had told himself that he would grow used to loneliness and learn how to fight it by himself, determined to be his own saviour and fixer of problems. But he had to be honest with himself, it felt way better to have someone that sparked that different type of joy in him and that Doyoung could also spark joy in. It was healthier as well, to see how you can make someone happy, letting yourself enter that supposed Learning Zone that the psychology books talked about. 

Jaehyun had the things that made Doyoung forget his aversion to the emotional vulnerability and admit that he needed the smiles paired with tender eyes, the lunch dates that took him away from his workplace for at least a couple of hours a day to breathe the air of leisure time and probably even more.

He was at ease with him. 

In fact, Doyoung had discovered Jaehyun’s magnanimous lie about cooking about an hour ago, but he didn’t say anything about it.

More likely, he took advantage of it. 

"I said fold the whipped cream and cheese together" he indicated with a lighthearted tone, stealing the whisk from Jaehyun’s hand. "Not whisk it. It’s not the same culinary term, didn’t you know? You are a disaster..." 

"Hey" he protested, lowkey affected by Doyoung’s teasing. "Watch out, you are trickling chantilly cream all over my kitchen floor" 

"Proof that you are not folding it right" sang Doyoung with a smirk, putting his palm under the tool so the drops fell on his hand instead. "It should be thicker and not fall from the whisk" 

“Then it’s that you are not teaching me very well”

“Oh? How dare you? Maybe you are not listening tightly to my indications, like right now. Take a silicone spatula for that and fold it correctly”

"You are making a mess of the kitchen and yourself" accused Jaehyun back. "Come here" 

The younger discharged the bowl he was holding with the attempt of chantilly cream aside on the kitchen counter and grabbed Doyoung’s wrist, pulling him towards the sink so he could let go of the whisk. He opened the tab, guiding Doyoung's sticky hand under the water while the latter felt a furious heat creep to his cheeks. 

His pulse quickly accelerated as his body entered the area where Jaehyun’s scent was dominant over the fresh baking smell and his chest stood pressed against the younger’s own. He wished that he couldn’t notice the sudden awakening of his sensations and the thumping of his heart under his fingers, hoping that the action of cleaning the ingredients off his fingers had Jaehyun busy enough. 

And he knew that his dimpled cheeks and his lit eyes were all because of him. Because it was obvious and because this was so close to make Doyoung touch the edge of the final ring of zones. 

Every minute spent in his presence got the baker to know him deeper, thus to fall for him deeper just like blessed by some kind of serendipity that activated in the moment Taeyong dragged him to the make-up studio to hire Jaehyun. 

It was so apparent that they both knew that  _ it  _ was happening, and as time moved on and Jaehyun collected all the little pieces of information that made him mold to Doyoung and grow in between his cracks like the roots of a hyacinth in a broken pot, the older got looser around him and leaned back to complete the puzzle. 

They were nothing yet, but they were more than friends because friends don’t look at each other like that. 

Doyoung chuckled for himself, recognizing how his impulse had turned heavier than his reluctance as his free hand drifted over Jaehyun’s hip. 

There was a little pause from both, the dark eyes from the older staring at the make-up artist as he searched for a clue on Jaehyun’s expression, or in the way the younger had seemed to take a halt in his normal respiration. 

Jaehyun’s eyes fluttered, and his head tilted to watch Doyoung in that certain way that read an unspoken question. 

_ What’s going on in between us? _

He closed the water tap, but his lips remained silent and his body still, so Doyoung continued the trip of his hand around his waistline, making his hand do the same with the other side until they laced behind his back. 

Doyoung’s heart was beating fast, but he also felt Jaehyun’s heartbeat through their chest affixed together, and it wasn’t really different. 

“Uh… Doyoung…” he croaked faintly. 

He wasn’t so brave when feelings took him by surprise, nor when things got real and he realized that he wasn’t just making up fake scenarios in his mind where Doyoung indulged him. 

That the fact that the baker was in for something gradual didn’t mean everything was less of a reality. 

That they were  _ something _ already.

They had been smiling at each other and laughing all the time, and the layer of fragile flirting blended into their conversations was becoming thicker, but they were yet to close the circle. 

“Yeah?”

The stops in between their dialogue were too long to mistake the atmosphere with something else that wasn’t the comfort line expanding and engulfing Jaehyun’s close proximity into it, and the tunes in which their words were said didn’t fall behind. 

“No… nevermind...” 

Doyoung liked the softness that Jaehyun used to talk to him, really reluctant to say anything that could end the unexpected moment. 

“You liked it?” 

“What did I like?”

“When I dragged you into a kiss” muttered Doyoung, so low it whisked into the scalding air of Jaehyun’s house kitchen. 

Jaehyun’s low chuckle was terrific, for his voice sounded hoarse and engrossing. It was like a drop of an aphrodisiac falling onto Doyoung’s tongue. 

His voice when he spoke was even worse. 

“I fucking loved it” 

“But… you haven’t said anything about what happened ever since”

“Neither have you”

“I know" sighed Doyoung into the brunnete hair of the younger some centimeters away from him. "If I could go faster… with all of this…"

"You don't need to" assured Jaehyun softly. He stared at him with fondness too. "There's no point in rushing things up"

"But… wouldn't you like to move faster?"

"I want to learn you" said Jaehyun earnestly, making Doyoung’s heart flap in his chest like a butterfly. Never he had been so easily understood by a person -not even by Taeyong and Johnny, even though Doyoung loved them vastly as friends, but it was not the same level- and be treated with such precision without even feeling coldness in the thoughtful moves. "I want the intimacy, and it doesn't matter how fast it goes. I just want it to be like we get each other" 

"Then there’s... I don’t think there's nothing else for me to say. I'm like this, someone that has nothing else to say, but I hope that my thoughts translated well into what I did” 

Everything was so silent but the ticking of the oven’s clock right behind them, yet Doyoung was hearing the rush of the universe around him, colliding and crashing when Jaehyun’s forehead leaned on his and his eyes gazed in his, taking all that Doyoung had to offer. 

Maybe it was the heat that made him feel so languid and prone to melt against Jaehyun. But just like a pudding, Doyoung needed slow fire cooking, more like a bain-marie, to make his legs feeble like they were. 

Jaehyun was a low flame meant to end his obstinate not-so-healthy habits, pulling him in until there was only the best version of Doyoung left. 

“It all started here, in this house”

“Not all” appealed the older. “Some things started before, with your stupid… smile and your eyeshadow brush”

“And I made you hate make-up a little bit less, perhaps?” asked Jaehyun with a puffed-up smile, as if he didn’t know. 

“Perhaps. But is it really make-up what we are going to talk about right now?”

“Why not?”

“Because we are extremely close?”

“Oh yeah?” said Jaehyun, pretending that he needed to bend down a little and take a look at their disposition before going back to where he was before. “I hadn’t noticed”. Doyoung rolled his eyes and snorted. He hated him. “But yes we are  _ very  _ close, are we not?”

“Yes”

“I don’t know what you are seeking, Bunny” crooned Jaehyun with a very specific accent in the name that surely put a blush on Doyoung’s face, making him taste the double edge of excitement and being pulled so abruptly across their safe lane of action. Jaehyun always moved with baby steps towards Doyoung and let the older set a pace like a steady metronome, but that was one abrupt  _ sforzando _ that caused a drop of sweat to roll down the dip of his back. And it wasn’t caused by the summer weather. “But I’m trying too hard to stay put”

“Bunny?” choked out Doyoung. “Why?”

“Because I say so”

Doyoung bit his tongue down to subdue a mewl. 

Wasn’t that enough to know that he wanted him bad? It probably was. It wasn’t really like Doyoung had doubted that since they first met, but he had just been wanting to take it slow. And he was doing so, acting carefully and letting things happen at a pace. 

Until that moment where his heart said it was enough. 

“Are you going to kiss me back or not?” asked the older, growing confident. 

His hands were shaking as he held Jaehyun’s body, but he was confident and beyond ready. 

“Do you want me to?”

“Gosh, Jaehyun just… do it… please”

His words slowed down as the moment dripped down onto him, and the last one was just a whine. 

Unlike the rash he had been imbued with when he had kissed the make-up artist at the party, Jaehyun just leaned on carefully, his eyes closing like petals with the fan of his long lashes brushing Doyoung’s cheeks. 

He cupped the sharp jaw of the older in his hand at the time their lips met and made Doyoung levitate, only able to focus on how soft his mouth was against his. He might have missed that detail the other time due to his inebriated shenanigans, or maybe his brain was just forgetting things on purpose so he could make up an excuse to keep kissing Jaehyun and unveil all the secrets laying on him. 

There was a moment where Jaehyun came back for air, brushing Doyoung’s dreamy face with his eyes. 

He let a small laugh out, and Doyoung’s heart decided to skip a beat. 

"So that was what my gut feeling told me to work for…" muttered Jaehyun upon his lips, his eyes still shut. "I can see why" 

Doyoung’s fingers curled around the other man's neck, pulling him closer once more so that overpowering of senses and blackout of worrisome thoughts would break him again. Jaehyun indulged, embracing him in his arms this time and inviting the baker -who had absolutely forgotten the cake ordeal- to do the same, throwing their limbs around the other.

The kiss was deeper this time, and their hearts leaped. 

There was apparently nothing that Doyoung could think further than the moment he was in. He was breathing Jaehyun in, and that was the only thing that mattered until a phone started ringing and Jaehyun’s pocket vibrated with ease. 

The younger sighed as he leaned back, giving an apologetic glance at Doyoung. But he couldn't care less, he was over the clouds and his mind was running like a comet about to crush on Earth due to what was just happening. 

"It’s Mark" explained Jaehyun as he gave a quick check on the screen. "That's unusual, so do you mind if I pick up?" 

"It’s okay. I'll take the cake out the oven before it turns a coal" 

His sigh was heavy, but it was not because he was upset. Nothing like that. He was infatuated with Jaehyun and he was eager to see how their bond continued to develop because that love at first kiss… he felt it. 

It was so silly, but the whole idea of romance was theoretically silly after all. Plus, he was a baker that committed to bake cakes and muffins to a trail of wedding events and anniversaries, so it made him walk two palms over the floor. 

He pushed the oven’s door open and rushed to carefully put the cake out because it was already overcooked, his professionalism gone to hell with a blink of Jaehyun’s eyes. 

The metal mold clattered against the counter when he let go of it fast to not burn his hands even through the oven mitts. 

"Dang, we almost screwed that up" he commented. "You make me a mess, I haven't burnt a cake in years" 

He had a huge toothy smile on his face that really resembled the bunny he had been compared to just some moments before, but turning at Jaehyun again, it sort of turned upside down. 

When the make-up artist looked serious, he seemed a bit more scary than he really was. 

The change of his expression worried Doyoung. 

"Jae?" 

The aforementioned boy looked at him to briefly lift a corner of his lips in approval of the sudden shortening of his name that had rolled down Doyoung’s tongue for the first time.

"Wait a second, Mark is… he is telling me something important…"

"I don't like how this all looks. I liked the way you were looking at me before much better" he said with his whole chest, taking impulse in the situation that had the make-up artist's lips sealed for being in a conversation parallel to the kitchen show. 

"You are so cute…" still managed to mutter Jaehyun, awakening the butterflies in Doyoung’s chest and burning his cheeks. "But like… how could that happen?" He asked then, as a part of the phone call with Ten’s personal assistant at the agency. "Really? That’s vile… you know who leaked it?"

What could be possibly involving Jaehyun with Ten’s work problems anyways? He only did his make-up sporadically. 

Doyoung sighed. He knew that whatever business was going on in their model agency, it was something he couldn't help with, so he turned around and took the cake to the fridge so it would cool down faster to apply filling and icing. 

Until he heard the next line from Jaehyun.

"And how is Taeyong taking the news? Have you reached out for him yet?"

He had spoken a bit more quietly, and Doyoung  _ knew _ -as if he had been years guessing the highs and lows of Jaehyun’s voice- that it was to try to be inaudible for him and not get him worried. 

Bad attempt. 

He turned around at him to question every single word of the make-up artist with a glance. 

The latter pressed his lips on a line. 

“What did he say? You talked to him?... yeah, I guessed that would be your answer… It's normal, but it's really not his fault, he is an angel” 

“Jaehyun” called Doyoung again, not really caring about interrupting his conversation with the personal assistant at the other side of the line. He needed to know what was going on right away. “What happened?”

“I don’t know, but I’ll try. I'll get going in a second, Mark. Call me if there is any news” 

Jaehyun hung up and started at Doyoung with an apologetic glance. It was soft, and his bottom lip was being worried between his teeth, but Doyoung was already too unsettled to let it calm his mind. 

“Spit it out"

“Someone leaked some private pictures of Ten and Taeyong hanging out together. The press is burning with headlines of them dating… Ten was upset when he was told, he was apparently crying hard and questioning himself, so he left, and Mark is worried because anyone knows where he is. They are trying to find him so I should go and help them check”

“Is… this a joke?” asked Doyoung, astonished. 

Taeyong, who had been a friend of Doyoung for years and posed an absolute weakness for Doyoungs heart -not in the same way that Jaehyun sparked, but a lovely friendly affection too- had been extremely secretive with his relationship with Ten. So much that, at first, he even took a long time to tell his friends that they were having something. 

The thing is that Doyoung hadn’t stopped to think what would happen if that ever came out to the light of day. 

It felt awful, that was his best friend that they were talking about.

Jaehyun should have felt something bad too, probably because he was Ten’s friend just like Doyoung was Taeyong’s friend, but there was something more to it. Something that took the older man by surprise when he scooted closer and held his face with both his hands. 

His cheeks puffed and his eyes were forced to look at Jaehyun’s own. He felt the slow stroke of Jaehyun’s thumbs over his cheekbones and the small wisp of his breath being exhaled onto his lips. 

“Please, don’t worry” he murmured. “I know this sounds tough… I’m not going to lie, it really is. But Taeyong, you know him, he will be fine… I can't see your eyes get sad” 

“Do you think so? That Taeyong can front it. Or are you just making a big effort to soothe me?”

“Both” 

“Do you know, Jae…” he began, his eyes dropping lower to caress the silver bracelet that Jaehyun had clasped around his wrist and Doyoung could recognise. Maybe it was a bit too selfish to say things like this in a moment of haste, but he had put the lid of his feelings a little bit to the side when they had started kissing and he still had to let some things spill out before he closed it again. Otherwise he would have caught some important sentiments in the way. “It’s surprising, but it works. You soothe me. And do you know how long it has been since anyone has made me feel like that?”

When Doyoung returned his attention to Jaehyun’s eyes, those were shining with dreamy stars. 

“Why are you telling me this now?”

“I don’t know… I just feel like I can be vague with the things I expect from us, so I have to let you know"

"I can notice that we are not in the same place we were before, Doyoung" he whispered. "I see the small shifts in your day. You have been texting me earlier this last days because you don't spend so much extra time at the bakery after you close, and you have a brown stroke of liquid liner elongating your eyes… I wasn't in the dark about what's going on, if that's what you are worried about"

"No? But still, communication is healthy between two people" 

"We don’t need to speak…" said Jaehyun, breathing in profounfly, sniffling the tenuous scent of pink ember soap on Doyoung’s skin. "... to actually talk" 

Doyoung gulped down with the hope that it coul get his heart back on the right place. 

"You are great, Jaehyun… I just don't know what you have done to me, but ever since we met you barely leave my mind"

"Thanks god, then it's not just me" 

He smiled weakly and stamped a chaste kiss on Doyoung’s lips. 

“I’m sorry that this date has to end like this. And, by the way, keep calling me Jae. I like how it sounds on your voice”

Doyoung was either blushing furiously or smiling like a fool. Perhaps both. Perhaps none physically, but mentally those were the equivalents of the feelings. 

“I’ll go with you”

“Uh?” 

“To look for Ten. I will go with you”

“You don’t need to”

“But I want to”

“Are you sure? Dating scandals are a mess, maybe Ten is in his apartment’s couch eating a large tub of ice cream while wearing only underwear and crying with Pretty Woman… maybe he is drunk somewhere or maybe he is just crying sitting on the sidewalk. I don’t know how long it’s going to take”

“Taeyong is my friend just like Ten is yours. I don’t know how this things need to be managed but we are all in the same boat with this, and I'm joining”

Jaehyun nodded, brushing Doyoung’s bangs between his fingers and pushing the soft strands away from his eyes. He was staring at him with the gentlest gaze he has ever seen. 

“Can I ever say no to you?”

“I wish… and you are going to forgive me for what I’m about to say” peeped Doyoung, knowing he was playing the tight-fisted role and dealing with a challenge he had always wanted to tackle down but wasn’t possible from inside his quiet bubble. “I wish that you are never able to say not to me ever again” 

**____**

The popsicle was melting onto his lithe fingers with white trickling of cream filling, the tip of his tongue darted out to collect the droplets that were threatening him with making his hands sticky. 

Doyoung worked every day with sweet, creamy substances, yet he hated the feel of them making his hands gooey and was often washing his hands and getting rid of the thick layers of sugar on them. Thus, he was lickig everything off with a deep conviction that only grew to be an absolute necessity when he noticed that Jaehyun’s eyes were on him and that the make-up artist was flaunting a poisonous glance that he had never got to experience before. 

The movie wasn’t really important anymore, it was just the white sound in the background. 

Jaehyun’s way to stare at him was usually so focused on Doyoung’s face, in his sharp attractive eyes and, at more critical times, in the perfect lips of the older, red vivid colored and small, with a pointy cupid’s bow made of reveries. Whereas at that moment, Jaehyun’s eyes  moved from his face to fixate on the other parts of the baker’s body. 

His tongue passing over his fingers, his broad chest going up and down as he breathed, the sharp bones of his collar showing from under the black polo shirt with three buttons down. 

Doyoung didn’t really need to show a lot of skin to look like peril. He was fully clothed now, at the other side of the couch, yet Jaehyun was struggling to keep up with the view without thinking a couple of things. The round glasses were resting on his nose bridge and his hair, not so carefully brushed in a Saturday off work, was carefreely disheveled with something that Jaehyun didn’t know but digged. 

The thing was like this, Doyoung liked to enjoy the process of things and let them happen at their natural pace, not rushing them and missing the little, pretty things that came with development. A thing that he couldn't do if he performed the 'fuck me in the party abd never call me again' move. But was he shy? No he wasn't. 

Not exactly.

He wouldn't grant anyone the luxury of rejoicing in this view of his, he wouldn't have felt comfortable sharing it with an outsider either. But for Jaehyun, he could pull it out.

Maybe because he wanted him just as bad. 

He tried to keep a straight face, looking at the TV screen vaguely and pretending he was still paying attention. He didn't even know what was going on, but the satisfaction of having Jaehyun spacing out so effing bad was the strongest stimulant. 

The Doyoung that had first met the make-up artist a whole month ago would have never believed that he was making the man so worked up, but after a handful of those things they never called dates -but were pretty much dates-, it had sunk in. 

He wasn't planning to try anything funny with Jaehyun yet. They often went out together, walked around or had coffee calling each other 'friend'. They even kissed sometimes, but they weren't at a stage where they had the nerve to suggest something more just yet. 

Although he wasn't the best example of behaviour at that, Taeyong had asked him multiple times what exactly was happening between them but he didn't really have an answer for that. And his roomate, Johnny, had also asked how they started dating and Doyoung had to shrug and say that they weren't yet, striking sheer confusion in the group of friends.

But it was just what they were like. 

However, the older was now dealing with a challenge, knowing the way in which Jaehyun was staring at him. 

Jaehyun -a type he really, truly liked and matched his pace in synchrony- was feeling the growing root of affection creep in his heart, and that was so sure at that point that Doyoung noticed he would have jumped straight into it if the situation turned that way. 

Doyoung parted his mouth in silence and bit on the popsicle in a way so messy that it couldn’t have possibly been unintentional.

"Oh, fuck me" he said, chosing his words with mischief as his lips got stained with cream and chocolate and a drop of the melted sweet ran down towards his chin. "This things are so runny and messy" 

_ Heh. _

The sound that let Jaehyun’s mouth was halfway between a laugh and a sigh, probably discovering once and for all the small game that Doyoung was playing.

"Oh, come on…" he muttered with a sneer. Doyoung knew he had unleashed the younger as he moved in closer to him. 

He leaned in closer and cupped his face on his hand. Doyoung let himself being pulled towards, feeling goosebumps as soon as Jaehyun wiped away the drop with his tongue. 

His lips attached to the chisel of Doyoung's jawline, leaving a blend of open-mouthed kiss and love bite on there that made Doyoung reel. 

The latter then tilted his face towards his and kissed him, softly at first but pulling him down a second later. It was not the first time they kissed at all, but the pound of Doyoung's heart felt similar and erratic all the same. 

It was new, but there was no reason not to enjoy the thrill. 

Their tongues began to dance, slipping in one another's mouth. Jaehyun could distinguish the taste of dark chocolate and cream and the colder trace of the frozen popsicle on his spit. It was charming in its own way and it surely made the younger find it so appropriate for a baker with such passion for pastry as Doyoung was. 

As he bit down on his bottom lip and tentatively tugged it back a little, Doyoung’s instinct responded to the deep touch by wrapping his arms around his back and pulling him closer. 

Jaehyun jolted as the cold drip of the popsicle fell on his back and soaked through the expensive shirt that he had chosen for this not-date with Doyoung, chuckling against the baker’s mouth with a little, sultry hiss that caused Doyoung’s body to react. 

"Leave that on the table"

"No, it will melt all over it and drip onto the floor"

"It’s melting all over me right now" 

"Well, that's true" said the older, gesturing fast towards the table to dump the half melted food. 

He could mop later. 

Jaehyun laughed at the haste, as Doyoung also took his glasses off and practically tossed them across the furniture. He welcomed the older's mouth against his again, letting the passion explode in between them. The older was devoted to their togetherness, the smacks of their lips and the clicks of his tongue filled the room with pretty sounds of complicity. 

Jaehyun had never seen him like that, his hands closing around his shirt and pulling him closer with the intentions burning low in his stomach. 

When he mewled under Jaehyun’s lips, it was about done for him. The make-up artist slipped under the polo shirt of the older and pressed down on the muscles of his back. 

He pressed down a gasp when Jaehyun stressed the force in the point at his lower back enough to cause a sting between pleasure and pain. He grasped his hair a bit too hard and made him sink lower on his mouth, his tongue licking on his mouth. 

Jaehyun shifted on the couch, too into it, arranging his body to fit the curve of Doyoung's sitting position and hold his small hips in between his strong arms. 

The baker, however, seemed to come up with a better plan just right away. Ignoring the impressive heat of a mid-august evening, he moved up and sat astray on Jaehyun’s lap. 

They took a moment to stare at each other, their breathing filling the room. 

Jaehyun’s eyes were shiny, his pupil dilated and his lips curled up in a smile. 

"Well, hello there…" he muttered, his gaze sliding towards the open collar and then lower, to his hips and his plush thighs over him. "What's this?"

"Expanding my vision" sighed Doyoung, sliding his hands over Jaehyun’s shoulders. "And you were right… I like what it's here, outside of the comfort zone" 

"Well, then is it okay…" started Jaehyun, sitting up straighter and burying his face on the small plane of bare skin at the end of Doyoung’s neck. "... if I do this?" 

He started pressing long kisses on his skin, which duration prolonged more and more as they went by. They were damp, the tingles coiling ar Doyoung’s lower stomach with ease.

"Y-yes" exhaled Doyoung, his eyes fluttering shut.

The sound was so obvious that Jaehyun could only press his lips down with more intent, awakening the vivid thrill of being touched where Jaehyun hadn't touched him before. 

"Are you sure?" Breathed Jaehyun, not really stopping what he was doing but making sure he was right. Ever since he met Doyoung and he told him about his slow pace, he always asked or let Doyoung decide the depth of their approaches. "I don’t need to hurry up" 

"I know, Jae" nodded Doyoung. His fingertips brushed over his black striped shirt, trickling down to his firm chest. He popped a button open, and then another one, uncovering more of his pale, smooth skin. “You are not”

The brunette inhaled deeply as Doyoung guided his hand down on his chest and passed through the borders of his shirt’s fabric. He lowered himself to press his small lips on the heated up skin, the glide making Jaehyun smile for himself with the knowledge that that was caused but at least one coat of gloss. 

There was no many time for the younger to brood over Doyoung’s cosmetic choices for the day, as his mind quickly chased after the sensation arising at the very top of his flesh, for Doyoung, shyly, had stuck his tongue out and was licking a stripe all the way up to his neck, ending the gesture with an open kiss that may turn into a color blotch later. 

“I just wanted to let you know”

"I know how you are, I know how you treat me” he sighed. “But I love you and I-"

Doyoung’s words came to a halt as his ears took them in and his brain processed what his heart had said. 

_ When _ had he started  _ loving _ Jaehyun? 

He was an anxious mess of a person, honestly. It was hard for him to let go of the worries that surrounded him and allow things that could be great for him enter his way. If it wasn't for Jaehyun’s understandment and his perfect balance with Doyoung’s lifestyle, he wouldn't be there atop his lap. 

That was exactly it, wasn't it?

Without noticing how, without paying mind to the changes that scared him, Doyoung had paraglided into the spot of liking Jaehyun so much that it had morphed into… well, into romantic love. 

His hands shook as they rested on Jaehyun’s chest, falling then onto his own lap. 

Getting to know Jaehyun had been his choice, a possibility he had analyzed in his mind after meeting him first at the studio that cost him an almost sleepless night while his mind ran circles. He had known then that Jaehyun had the potential, and he had decided he wanted to get close and try. 

Falling for him was a process that had worked out of control. 

So he was there sitting on Jaehyun and he had just said that, provoking every cell in his body to throw a party of joy mixed with the anxiety of solid seconds before the younger of the pair could open his mouth. 

Jaehyun let out a steady sigh. 

“That was sounding good” he whispered. His voice, as always, sounded like auditory honey and caressed Doyoung way too expertly to not make him feel terrified of losing him. “Continue”

“Okay, I… I know that this has been an unconventional way to get things done. Kissing and staying quiet, yearning for you and not being quite sure of myself to say it out loud and all those things…”

“There are no unconventional ways, Doie, everyone is different and the actual way is to find the pace that goes well for each bond we make”

“You see? That’s it. Can you hear yourself? I’m in love with that” murmured Doyoung. “It makes me mad that someone so perfect exists in this world”

Jaehyun glanced at him with soft, affectionate eyes despite the blown-out state of his pupils. He had blushed slightly at the temperature and the specific compliment that Doyoung had tossed his way. 

“I’m not by any means perfect, don’t think deify me, I have my flaws”

“Where?”

“I don’t know... I’m a hopeless romantic”

“Not a defect”

“I’m very competitive”

“Not a-”

“I’m forgetful when it comes to texting back, a busybody, a sleepyhead… I guess there are things like in any other person, that’s my point”

“Well, then you are perfect for me, at least” resonated Doyoung. “So much that I have to admit that insecurity lives in me and shows up unrequested a lot of times when I see you. But you… I will never be able to explain how lucky I am that you appeared, because you really create the best environment I could ask to be in, Jaehyun” 

“What about you? Have you ever thought about how you are in my eyes?”

“Well… no? Not really”

“You are much more than you think”

“How do you know what I think of myself?”

The question was dumb itself, Doyoung knew what that was but a part of him wanted to hear him from Jaehyun. 

“Because I’m picking up on your personality. You are like that, play yourself down a lot” he explained. Doyoung sort of knew, and it was one of those things where he was similar to Taeyong and still scolded the older because of his underestimating moments. “Even when we first talked heart to heart on my balcony, you said that you were boring, that you didn’t fit to be a make-up model and so on. It has always blown my mind that you don’t see what I see. I wondered how you could not see how interesting you are, how skilled, hardworking… you care so much for your friends and support them. Even when Ten and Taeyong locked themselves up in their asocial momentum of post-scandal coping, you suggested to get them breakfast and check on them and charge all of the bakery’s stuff on your account. You are sensitive and understanding, sweet, funny and you garnish all of it with that look of yours… truly crazy”

“Shit, Doyoung, kiss the man before I cry here like this is Titanic” Doyoung jumped with surprise as Johnny’s voice came from the kitchen -that was open to the apartment’s living room- where he was standing shirtless and with two glasses of water on his hand. 

He grabbed a cushion and threw it his ways with a growl that said it all, while Johnny screeched in laugh form and dodged it, running back to his room where he was probably having some dumb antics with Jungwoo. 

Jaehyun laughed along, and in a blink, Doyoung surprised himself following him up.

"Johnny is right… don't tell him I said this because he would never leave us live in peace again, but he is damn right"

His arms passed around Jaehyun’s body and his chin settled on his shoulder. 

"And oh, I love you too, Bunny" 

The make-up artist felt how the smile formed at Doyoung's lips as it brushed against his jugular. 

"I knew with a few words that you would end doing me much good"

“My pleasure” 

Doyoung’s chest shook with the laugh as his teeth scraped on the supple skin under Jaehyun’s ear. The make-up artist stretched and relaxed. Doyoung wasn’t realizing how tense he was since he made the move of getting on top of him, but he was.

"You know," she said steadily "I’m not going to break or anything. You can be a little rougher” 

“I bet you can handle it” answered Doyoung, using his handicap of having his face buried on his neck so the brunette couldn’t see him blushing and almost shuttering before letting the slab fall. “But I want to play a little”

Jaehyun exhaled hard through his nose. 

It sounded like heaven and it felt most satisfying then, when Doyoung kissed him again and he heard the pop of his shirt’s buttons ceding to the tug. They began melting together in a mess of limbs, hips, lips and fervency. 

“Here?” barely managed Jaehyun to ask with a voice that had turned hasty at that time, once he knew everything was just like it should be. 

“Uh?”

“Here? On the sofa?” he clarified, holding himself back for not pushing the older onto the cushions of the worn out couch of his shared flat. 

Doyoung hummed his desire into the kiss and pulled the shirt of the older down from his shoulders.

No, he wasn’t Apollo as Doyoung had one expressed he seemed. He was better. He looked better. It was all toned body, smooth skin and faint scent of cologne. 

It made thinking hard for Doyoung. 

Jaehyun kissed his neck, reaching up to grab his head and lean further into the kiss, almost bending Doyoung back. His sounds were sublime for the younger’s ears. He could feel Doyoung’s ass softly brushing on his crotch. 

“No" he hushed with his eyes still shut. "Bedroom”

“Your wish is my command” joked Jaehyun, not joking that much. 

He wrapped his arms around Doyoung’s hips and lifted both of them up as if his weight was nothing. Doyoung keened, hugging his neck to hold himself up as Jaehyun carried him towards the door of the room that he surely knew wasn’t occupied by Johnny and Jungwoo. 

It may have become a ‘who is louder competition’, but for once, Doyoung deserved to act naughty like this.

Luckily, he would win. 

**____**

When autumn arrived, Doyoung could barely think what his life would be without Jaehyun, and he didn’t really want to think about it because it couldn’t be good anyways. 

Jaehyun felt like the lifesaver you want to hold onto in the middle of the ocean that was the world. 

There was a double winged brown liner on his eyes, an earthy nude shadow on his lids and a charming gradient on his lips that Jaehyun had been too satisfied to put on him. But Doyoung was still doubtful of his appearance and if he really liked how it looked on him… maybe he was looking ridiculous and people could see that… 

Nonetheless, they were rolling downhill happily with Jaehyun’s city bike, Doyoung sitting at the carrier with his arms around Jaehyun’s waist as he pedalled. His eyes were closed, enjoying the slightly chilly breeze on his face and rousing his hair. The scent of damp dry leaves piling at the sidewalks was filling his nostrils and the contact with Jaehyun’s body through the woolen sweater. 

For Doyoung, this was what a dream boyfriend was. And yes, he knew he was having the cheesiest thoughts possible in a situation that was clearly a rom-com like scene -solid proof of that was the way in which people turned to see them as they passed and how many smiles in youths they were rising- but he couldn't care that much about being judged. 

Because the moment belonged to them only. 

He liked to think about them looking like the perfect pair for a TV series. The happy cliché of a know-it-all school council president and an athletic and charismatic boy from a lower grade, the kind of cliché that everyone wants to read and dream about living. It didn't have to be flashy and striking, it just had to be comfortable and healthy. 

After all, what Jaehyun had really accomplished was not dragging Doyoung out of his comfort and into an unknown place of thrills. He had just worked his way into the pleasant oasis of calm to lay with him under a tree. 

There were infinite ways to be perfect to someone, and they were all unpredictable until you found the candidate and committed to know their quirks. 

_ Their _ kind of perfect day together was eating some leftover croissants from the bakery over coffee while listening to Jaehyun’s vinyls, in silence but not in loneliness; throw themselves in bed and talk about their day until lethargy weighed them down to sleep together after their tiring days of work. 

They would wake-up way fresher than they had ever been. Then putting a bit of a more collected look on themselves, let Doyoung laugh trying a shirt from Jaehyun’s closet that looked oversized on him but deciding to wear it at the end. 

To finish it, they would snap a couple picture on Jaehyun’s livingroom's mirror that was too bold for Doyoung to share anywhere that wasn’t the close friends mode of instagram stories -because the make-up artist was snaking his arms around Doyoung and leaning on him with a huge smile to the point where Doyoung was tilting and the picture was kind of blurry- and ride a bicycle across Seoul to meet friends. 

Then there were other types of couples. 

For instance, the one that was already waiting for them at the brunch table and that have actually suggested the plan. Doyoung was fine with it, and accepted the plan easily. 

Especially because Ten said he would pay for the entire thing -much to Taeyong’s sulking, which was apparently adorable to the model's eyes- in order to celebrate that Taeyong had signed a deal with High Cut to bring a couple of outfits for a winter photoshoot. 

As they hopped off the bicycle and parked it in a proper spot, Jaehyun stopped in front of the restaurant's big windows and peeped into the dine-in with a smug smile. 

"Have you seen that?" He asked to Doyoung, who squinted his eyes and got closer to the glass to see what the younger was pointing at. 

"What? My whipped best friend and his whipped boyfriend?" Jaehyun hummed positively as an answer. "Yeah, so what? It's nothing new"

"I know, but they amuse me" 

"Why?"

"Because they think they are so edgy… but you give them a moment alone and look at them, they look like they are in their honeymoon" 

Doyoung chuckled with the occurrence. 

It was not far-fetched that they looked like a rich couple -although that part was actually true- enjoying their european rendezvous. Ten was wearing tight jeans and a frail black shirt with shiny black glitters along the sleeves, whilst Taeyong was sitting opposite to him, wearing a white shirt with red roses embroidered across the chest. 

No one was ever too dressed up to hang out with them. 

Doyoung put an arm behind Jaehyun’s waist and leaned on his shoulder. Jaehyun looked at him a bit surprised, since he knew Doyoung’s opinion about the public displays of affection but he guessed that the warmth of their bicycle ride hadn't washed off yet. 

"We are very different when someone looks and when we are alone"

"I know. I guess every couple is" 

"Are you jealous of what they have?" Asked Doyoung quietly. 

Jaehyun snapped his head to the aide to watch Doyoung eye to eye. He frowned hard. 

"What?"

"I don't know" answered the older still faintly. He was clearly doubting himself once more although he knew he didn't have to, but changing the habits that we had formed inside ourselves for all our life takes time. "You seemed to be admiring them a lot right now, and I know I'm not the kind to drink mimosas with you in a fancy restaurant all dressed up"

"I admired them because they are endearing. But do you think I would change ourselves for them?" 

Doyoung looked at him, his lips pressed in a thin line. He didn't answer with words, but his eyes dropped to the floor. 

Jaehyun took his hand immediately and brought it up to his lips to kiss his knuckles. 

"I would never" 

With his face still pointing to the concrete, Doyoung smiled. Then he lifted his attention to Jaehyun’s face again and nodded with a humm. 

"Sorry"

"Don't need to apologize. I will repeat it for you all the times you need" 

"Okay" mumbled Doyoung, leaning further onto the man that was starting to be truly surprised by the closeness while still in display for the urbanite citizens around them. Doyoung put his face against his neck, enjoying the few centimeters of height that Jaehyun surpassed him in. "Once more. Now"

Jaehyun laughed between his teeth, absolutely smitten. 

"I love you, Doie. Only you" he pressed a prolonged kiss on the soft spot under Doyoung’s ear. "Now let's go, or Ten will eat your omelette" 

The baker was shocked with the sudden retrieval of his heat source when Jaehyun moved away and the autumn breeze slipped under the clothes from the fearless low neckline of Jaehyun’s shirt put over his body. 

He followed him with his eyes, but they soon stopped in the spot where they have been fixating moments prior to see both Ten and Taeyong staring back at them and their exchange in the middle of the street with a smirk each. 

And yes, Ten had a piece of omelette in his fork that made Doyoung gasp and follow Jaehyun inside the restaurant. 

"Put that down, demon" he hissed as soon as he arrived at the table, throwing a glance at the model as he tasted the soft mixture of fried eggs in his mouth. 

Ten threw a satisfied hmm for good measure, and Jaehyun didn't pay mind to his teasing adventures in the slightless. He just placed himself on the chair besides him and shook his head while opening the menu. 

"Play nice, Doyoung" cooed Taeyong. "Say good morning at least" 

"He is eating my omelette!" 

"You two are late" argued the older, prompting his chin on his hand with a smile. "Seems crazy to say that about Kim Doyoung, always strict and tight like a clock, but you are certainly late and we were…  _ are _ starving" 

Doyoung grunted. 

By the other hand, Jaehyun giggled and smiled at him when the baker stared at him with the 'defend me' eyes. 

"Sit down and let it pass, Doie" he sang, betraying the black haired man that just sat down sulking. Nonetheless, then he added. "Order another one, Ten is paying anyways"

That was more likely. He beamed satisfied and gave in the huge variety of stuff the couple of model and designer had ordered and that was enough to feed them all despite the omelette or whatever. 

There was coffee and wine, baked french eggs, a cheese board, french toasts, granola and yoghurt glasses, fluffy pancakes, bacon, grilled zucchini… 

It was nice that, being a baker that serves breakfast to dozens of people a day, Doyoung was in front of such a banquet served for him with all the detail and luxury. 

"So, Taeyong" he started as he served some eggs onto his plate. "Congratulations for your contract"

"Yeah" added Jaehyun with a soft smile. "High Cut is so important in the scene, I'm happy that the dating scene didn't drag you down that hard. I told you it would pass" 

"Thank you guys, I'm honestly  _ elated _ " pouted Taeyong positively. "I hope to do well, really. I'm nervous… I'm super nervous, but I want to do it so much"

Ten just stared at him in silence with his fond smile. 

"So how does that go?" Asked Doyoung. "They give you a concept and you present designs to see if they like them? I'm sorry if the question is dumb, you know I'm a bit too lost in the fashion field" 

He felt the squeeze of Jaehyun’s hand over his knee under the table, reassuring him. He didn't miss the unspoken details in Doyoung so he wouldn't have the chance of feeling below anyone. 

"Imagine it's a birthday cake and the host wants a themed party" explained Ten. "They tell you the theme and you can suggest cake decorations the may like. It's like that but instead of dressing a cake it's a person" 

"Oh…" 

Jaehyun pursed his lips up for Ten in appreciation of the simile. 

There was not a doubt for the make-up artist regarding the esteem that Ten held towards Doyoung, but he knew that the latter was more prone to hesitate about it due to the playful usage of their still growing trust. 

"Basically" agreed Taeyong, shoving pancakes and bacon in his mouth. "But I have to differ over your 'i'm lost about fashion' thing. You are looking fancy today… you are wearing lipstick too" 

"It’s not lipstick" he tried to justify under a small, shy smile. "It’s tint"

"You know what I mean"

"Point the finger at mister Jung"

"Congratulations to him, actually" joked Taeyong with a light heart. Jaehyun reciprocated the grimace. "Is harder to get through your thick head than to get accepted by a magazine's selection team"

"Is not that terrible, I promise" sang the youngest of them. "I'm stubborn and he is quite patient, so let's say I'm the hard one and he just lets himself be done"

"So, guys…" began Ten, tucking his chin on his hand and letting out a smug smile as he looked at Doyoung and Jaehyun alternatively. "Taeyong and I were talking earlier, snd we wondered… Are you official already or not?" 

"Tennie" murmured Taeyong under breath, pulling from his sleeve as a small reproach for the direct form of the question. 

The inquiry itself wasn't so terrible as it was, but both appellees stopped to look at each other, as if having a silent conversation about their relationship and the level of secrecy they wanted to have in it. 

Was there any doubt? 

"Is there any doubt about it?" Asked Doyoung, indeed. He nibbled in his bottom lip, expecting to hear something from Jaehyun as well. 

But, as expected, there was not an objection. 

They had long ago assumed that the tie was tight and secure. They skipped most of the dumb flirting and bashfull wooing to lap into the stability they both desired and enjoyed in the Friday evenigs under a blanket. 

"I don't know" shrugged Ten. "I don’t like to assume things, and since you didn't say anything…" 

"There's not much to say" commented Jaehyun, drinking his wine with ease and calm. "Some things are just… transparent" 

"Are you really saying that?" Asked Ten. "I mean, I respect that, it's just surprising for me, since you are the most romantic person I know. You are a sucker for corny stuff… but you don't have a firework spectacle to settle it down?"

"No. I just think our relationship was just meant to happen and clicked right away when it had to. It feels natural because it was fate as its best"

"Ah, there you are" Giggled the model, as well as his boyfriend. "So sappy"

"You won't have me any other way"

"But why are you telling us that?" Butted in Doyoung. "You two also started dating out of nowhere, there was not an event to mark the start"

"Oh, but Ten asked me, tho" confessed the designer airly, earning a supporting nod from said boyfriend of his. 

"Really?" Smirked Jaehyun. "Was it pretty? Did our Tennie put the effort?" 

"It was simple, but it was what I liked the most. It made me feel good"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah"

Doyoung and Jaehyun looked at each other cryptically. They seemed to be asking each other if it was so weird to not have a solid line between the before and after.

They felt comfortable with their blend of feelings and the gradual progression of their relationship, but looking at the customs... perhaps Doyoung wouldn't mind having a little spectacle of obnoxious displays of love. 

He could feel extra loved in a happy morning. 

It would be perfect after the chill, romantic bike ride and the tasty food as if there wasn't a moment as appropriate.

That was new, but it might show up in the shine of his eyes, and Jaehyun was too good at reading those flicks already. 

"So… Doyoung" started the make-up artist.

Ten smashed a hand on Taeyong’s wrist to hold it and tug from it energetically. 

"Oh my god, I didn’t expect them to do it here and now" he whispered amused and even endeared if Doyoung was right at guessing the subtlety of Ten’s tone shifts. 

"Hmm?" Crooned the baker with his attention lost in the honey color of Jaehyun’s eyes making him feel faint. 

In a good way. 

They were the most relaxing view he had ever had the pleasure to find, like the nook of a virgin beach where only they could enter to watch the break of dawn together. 

"I don't know, but I wonder if you will  _ continue _ being my boyfriend just like until now, since that's what makes my life even brighter than before"

"Oh my god" repeated Ten, sort of screeching with a high pitched tone. 

Taeyong too expressed the cringe with the shrinking of his body. Yet the two of them were smiling and having fun, and the happy mood was being shared by the whole table. 

Doyoung couldn't help the guffaw, being filled up with joy. 

The moment really felt like there couldn't be a more suitable way of doing things, automatically creating a beautiful memory that would remain with him for the long run.

"If I said no I would be  _ so _ dumb" answered Doyoung. His intervention was expected from the younger to be brief, but instead, there was another intervention of his. "If you really like to spend some time in my dark cave I would really love to go out with you and spend some time in the sunny outside"

"I like the balance, you know? No one wants to be under the sun all day" 

"Kiss him, kiss him" chanted Taeyong, eliciting a chuckle from Ten that almost coughed on his drink. 

Doyoung just glared at him -sitting by his side- with a dark glance and made him shut up just to fade in breathy giggles. 

"Mind your business, if you want kisses do it with your boyf- wait, you know what? Don't. Because I know you are capable of making this so awkward"

"I kiss him on the daily, baby" pulled Taeyong, as expected. 

"You are so clingy it's actually disgusting" 

"Disgusting?" Gasped the designer with indignation. As per usual, they have started bickering again as if that was the only form of affection they knew. 

"Yeah, you see Ten and get all over him in a second. If you are kike that in front of me, do you even let him breath when you are home?"

"Hey, I'm not always on his dick" 

"Yeah, he is on yours sometimes"

"Unprovoked" added Ten from behind his glass. 

"You are clingy too, just not so much in public" continued Taeyong, unwilling to lose the fight. "But you always walk hand on hand, sleep cuddling up together... and Jungwoo says you can't let go of Jaehyun when you have movies night" 

"Jungwoo, that big mouth…" frowned Doyoung while the two other friends ate and giggled about their respective boyfriend's conversation. "I should have never allowed that man into my house. And on top of that, I let him choose the movie, I had to sit through hours of Lord of the rings!"

"Has he camped in there or what?" Asked Taeyong. 

"You could pretty much say that" stated Jaehyun. "Everytime I show up at Doyoung’s house he is around" 

"Yeah, he spends a lot of time there since he and Johnny started feeling each other’s mood… you know what I mean. Maybe I should let Jungwoo be Johnny’s roommate and move out" 

"Oh?" Hummed Jaehyun. 

"Well, they are basically a couple right now, I third wheel all the time. So I thought maybe I could find myself somewhere to live" 

"You could move to mine" said Jaehyun straight away. 

There was not much hesitation, if any, just the proposition that floated in the air. 

Ten and Taeyong exchanged a silent look between them and then fixed their eyes on Doyoung, just like the make-up artist who was staring at him quietly before waking up from his moment again. 

"I mean, that might sound precipitated… and it's okay if you say no, there’s no obligation in my question. I know we have only dated for like… three to five months, I'm not even sure…" he chuckled, noticing that he was stumbling all over his words. Plus, the uncertainty of their duration appeared funny right after the question he had made a few moments prior. "What I mean is that I'm comfortable with you, I trust you… and having you at home would feel really nice. We could figure out the money part... so if you want to, I have a double bed" 

There was more silence, since Doyoung has literally gone into a full stop. It was like a period in which his body shut down to let his brain catch up. 

Ten could feel Jaehyun’s hands going shaky as they clasped on his own knees. It seemed tender to watch the always overconfident Jung Jaehyun falling on the claws of heartfelt sentiments. 

High emotions were being processed by both parties in the abrupt halt of their brunch. 

Taeyong cleared his throat. "You'd save money on heating now that it's almost winter"

He elbowed Doyoung too, just to push him back to his functions and end the half awkward moment they had fallen into. 

"Doyoung, it's okay to say no" said Jaehyun, forcing out a smile and blaming his impulsive need of being around the older everyday. 

It had not been his most respectful question minding the comfort zone. Surpassing a milestone like that, like moving to a big house with your boyfriend, was far beyond that level and into the last ring of growth and independence from an original core.

"We would be living in your house" finally said Doyoung, as if thinking out loud and trying to process the fact. 

Jaehyun nodded slowly. "Yeah…  _ our _ , in the case you move"

"Together?"

"Together" 

"And we'd be like… sleeping together every night, having dinner together…"

"Yeah"

"And my clothes would be in your closet"

"It's pretty big, I could make room for your things" 

"My shirts would smell like you" murmured Doyoung, his lips curling up. Sometimes, when things change inside you, the things that are around also change. "I could play your vinyls when you're not home and wait for you"

"Is this a yes, Doyoung?" 

"Is it?" He asked to himself, laughing and letting his head flop low between his shoulders. 

"Is the last time you are having mimosas for breakfast" muttered Taeyong in a pout, having a stroke of mother-like attitude towards his friend. 

The smile of the baker when he stands straight again swept Jaehyun off his feet and made his palm sweat even more on his jeans. 

It was the most beautiful thing he had  _ ever _ seen. 

It really was unlike any other smile in the whole world. 

The corners of his small lips curled up cutely, his eyes hid behind crescent moon shapes and his nose scrunched slightly, almost imperceptibly but with the charm of a cute rabbit. 

And still, it was not really the view that made it feel so unique for Jaehyun. It was the realisation of the comfort and the love between them. 

He had know for a long time that they shared that most beautiful feeling for each other bu suddenly, the step forward, hit him with full force and caused Jaehyun to have that exact thought of how lucky he was. Because it was so complex to think about the chain of events that had led them to this moment. 

Ten meeting Taeyong to then get into a push and pull of whatever they were trying to achieve back then, so that Taeyong ended up in Jaehyun’s studio and he had casually convinced Doyoung to go with him, ending with them meeting up and seeing the spark in each other’s eyes. 

Jaehyun had really, truly believed that what he had seen in Doyoung’s pupils was nothing more than the reflection of his own. 

But still, Doyoung proved him wrong. 

"You asked me out a second ago" resumed the older, still bearing that beautiful smile that had disarmed Jaehyun. "And now you want to live with me… and I thought that I was holding your pace back… well, it's good that one of us has the guts to say it out loud. Because I do want to live with you" 

"Are we not needed here?" Joked Ten. "Should Taeyong and I leave and call a wedding planner instead?" 

"Shut up, party pooper" puffed out Jaehyun."With that attitude you won't be my groomsman" 

"Petty" 

"Learned from the best, Tennie"

Taeyong concealed a chuckle under his glass, earning a funny pout from his boyfriend.

And they were cute, too cute and healthy and lively. But that time Doyoung knew for sure that he had nothing to envy from them.

To each his own. 

**____**

"That's ridiculous, really" accused Doyoung with his indignation tone as Taeyong held up the most scandalous piece of lace underwear he had ever seen. 

They were white panties with a frill and even two straps that, Doyoung guessed, were meant to hold a matching pair of high shocks. 

For a fact that was by far not the most obscene item hidden in the store, which is precisely what one looks for in a place like that, but it was definitely not for him. 

But after all, it was him who had dragged Taeyong with him to this purchasing tour. 

It had an explanation though. 

He just wanted a good surprise for Jaehyun during Valentine's day. After all, putting the day of love and his birthday the same day was really something. But Doyoung wasn't willing to engage in this world by himself and he knew Taeyong was already trained in this field. He basically just held into the most experienced swimmer and hopped to arrive at the shore knowing how to swim or at least without drowning. 

"Okay, don't look at me like that, it was a suggestion" said Taeyong, still staring at the piece with an impish smile. Is not that he had ever been a saint with his friend, but Ten’s mischief was also sticking to him more and more as months went by and finding them in separate houses became more and more rare, so it made him a double headache for Doyoung. "They are cute, tho, maybe I should buy them for myself" 

"We came here for me" 

"Yeah, but since I'm here I may join the fun. It's going to be Valentine's day and I'm always down for sales in the vibrators section" 

"Taeyong, can we focus?" He sighed. 

"We can, but you should get loose" said the older as a piece of advice. "Relax a little. There's not much you can decide in a sex shop when you are nervous and embarrassed"

Doyoung nodded and then stared at Taeyong furrowing.

"Okay, but that's not what I'm looking for" he said pointing at the underwear. 

"It’s a progress. So… what are we looking for?" Asked the older, moving from the stand where they had stopped. 

Doyoung didn't miss the fact that Taeyong really tossed the panties on his basket, but he didn't want to say anything about it. 

"Is there something you like? Something you want to try?" 

"I'm not sure. I want to have a little something to spark a difference. Don't get me wrong, our sex is not boring, it's just that… sporadically…"

"Doyoung, you don't really have to justify yourself, you know that, right? I'm your friend… and vanilla is not even my favorite flavour" 

He rolled his eyes. 

"Yeah…okay. So I just want a little game for a special day. Something to make it feel like it's a celebration" 

"Okay. And him? Jaehyun. What does he like?" 

Doyoung stopped abruptly in the hallway of the store, and Taeyong looked back at him amused, wondering what nerve he had struck to get Doyoung like that. 

To start with, he was turning red, and Taeyong had enough experience to know that was how a man about to go down the path of self-discovery in the sex fields looked. 

"B-bunnies?" He just whispered. 

Taeyong did his best not to flip out because oh boy that was not what he was expecting from the couple in question. It made sense, being Jaehyun as he was, but he had not stopped to dig into their thing so much. Taeyong had no business lurking in their intimacy just like the other way around.

The older knew that Jaehyun usually called Doyoung by that nickname but he didn’t know it would be an actual fixation. 

There was more to it. It started as a cute nickname  and a joke, but soon, Jaehyun’s mind seemed to have drifted to another place. 

_ "Hmm... bunny. Bunnies. I like bunnies" _

Doyoung had asked why that was such a sudden remark during one of their not so family friendly make-out seasons, but he noticed the darkness on his boyfriend's eyes and the expressions of bedroom elucubration so he had pieced all together in a moment. 

Doyoung had felt like he needed to tease him about it. He played dumb and pretended he hadn’t get the drift at all so he could watch Jaehyun stammering. 

_ "I was just saying...just because"  _ he had murmured all coy to then let it pass, weighed by his own sudden sadness. 

Doyoung wondered if his boyfriend had thought it was shameful to desire those things or what was the source of his eagerness to end the topic but he didn’t say a thing and stored the knowledge for himself. 

Until that day at the end of January when he went out with Taeyong and he thought that it was the precise instant to use it in his favour. 

Easy. Different… hot. 

The smile of the designer was unavoidable as he looked at Doyoung’s emotions crashing on his expression. "Role-playing?" 

Doyoung nodded shyly and looked away. Not a good idea for calm considering the large shelf of dildos that rose at his left. 

"Yeah" 

"Are you comfortable with it?" 

Doyoung seemed to smile, and gave a look to his friend. "I'm honestly thinking about Jaehyun’s face if I surprise him with it. He would melt into a puddle… I love that"

"Don't say no more" exclaims Taeyong, a smile spreading on his face. He is having way too much fun with this, but Doyoung follows the advice of getting loose and let's the older hook an arm around him, dragging them both across the store. "To the role-playing aisle!" 

"Is there an entire aisle for that?" 

"Yup" 

And yes, there was. 

Among the obvious, typical stuff someone expects to find on a sex shop, and fairly close to the section where his friend picked up the panties, they found the shelves that displayed all the clothing items belonging to the 'other type'. The role-playing ones. 

"Almost all the models are girls" commented Doyoung, a bit taken aback by that fact. 

"Sexism and homophobia is everywhere, baby" sang Taeyong as the most normal thing in the world. "Just pick what you like and wear it anyways" 

His friend wasn't wrong, but the pictures that displayed the costumes were unconvincing. 

There was the classic school girl costume, the shorter version of it -both certainly disquieting for Doyoung- sexy police, sexy nurse, sexy doctor, sexy firefighter… it was amusing how many occupations were there to exploit in the bedroom, but not what he was looking for. 

Although he might suggest something to Jaehyun, because being pulled by a sexy cop wasn't that horrible of an idea for him. 

"This… is fine, but I want the classic playboy bunny, honestly" 

"Want a tip?"

"From you? Maybe" joked Doyoung, although it was not so much of a joke deep down. He was scared of what Taeyong could say but surprisingly, the thrill was winning over his scheme of sensations. "What is it?" 

"Made up costumes in these shops are lame, they are kinda cheap looking and the erotism level drops significantly. Get the prettiest ears you find, a black bodice you like and put it together at home. It's a bit more pricey but it's worth it because it's going to look one hundred times sexier and you are going to be more comfortable, really" 

"It sounds reasonable" 

"Yeah… and you could even rescue it for another time if you like the first"

"Yeah…"

"Ah, and another tip, the most important, actually. Buy the tail you feel more comfortable with, not the fanciest"

"The… tail?" 

"Yeah. It's an important part of it, no?" 

Doyoung knew exactly what his friend meant, he knew how a sexy bunny tail was when not actually attached to the costume, but he simply… had not dealt with that before. 

Things had definitely gone inside him, but just not that type. 

He wondered what it felt like. 

The thought of it made the drop of electricity travel down and curl in his stomach with that tingly feeling, and the anticipation of Jaehyun’s reaction did the rest. 

That was probably the right thing to feel in the situation to know you want to carry through. 

Doyoung was already watching his boyfriend in his mind, gulping and eating him up with his gaze before even making the attempt to touch him. Frozen for a solid minute to think whatever dark thoughts flashed through his brain when he put his eyes on Doyoung’s body. 

He cleared his throat before he could go horny himself and nodded. "Okay, let's get a pretty one. A tail. You are coming with me" 

"Finally some fun!" Hollered Taeyong, clapping his hands. "Let's get your ass f-"

"Yah! Shut the fuck up. Don't dare saying it or I'm doing this by myself next time" 

"Next time!? Oh my god!!" 

**____**

"Jaehyun"

"Oh, Doyoung, you are home?" Asked the make-up artist as he got rid of his coat at the front door. 

He talked loudly, because he could tell his boyfriend's voice was far. Perhaps even on the second floor, but that didn't make all that sense because upstairs there was only a bathroom, his studio and two bedrooms. 

Ever since he moved into the house that had previously belonged to Jaehyun-and that was now called theirs- Doyoung didn't really spend a lot of leisure time upstairs if he wasn’t at the balcony that he especially appreciated. 

He liked other areas more, like the backyard that he had been planning to redecorate from the moment Jaehyun said it was messy because he didn't have time to fix it, the small library, the kitchen and the living room. 

"Something off?" 

He didn't expect the older to be home yet either. Doyoung and him were dating, but that didn’t take the whole habit of working overtime away. He didn’t delay his departure hour as much as he used to, but certainly he didn’t use to be home at only 8pm. 

And on Valentine's Day? It was the day where Doyoung and Yuta worked the most and earned the most because of people being absolutely drawn to show their love, fix it if broken or pretend it at least. 

Jaehyun wasn’t expecting him yet. 

He was going to take a shower and get ready for the date he was supposed to have with Doyoung in a few hours. They were going to meet at a cute restaurant and have a fancy dinner with wine.

He reckoned  _ something _ was going on. 

"Nope"

"So?" He asked, moving to the livingroom and then the kitchen. There was no trace of his boyfriend besides the bag he had left at the entrance. "Where are you?" 

"Upstairs" 

That was suspicious for Jaehyun, something that got him a small puncture of excitement with this whole unexpected encounter. 

He headed to the staircase. 

"What are you doing there?" 

"Come and see" 

Of course he will. In every situation, but especially with the hues that painted Doyoung’s voice color. 

"Come and see?" He repeated. He was surprised, he was incredulous in front of an attitude that was not the most usual one in his sweetheart. And he… he was attracted to it. "What's going o- baby, fuck" caughed Jaehyun, slamming the door of the room closed with a little too much of force.

Straight to the point, as Jaehyun always went. 

It was the first thing he said because Doyoung was the first thing he saw once he arrived at the dormitory. 

There he was, sitting on top of Jaehyun’s dressing table with his crossed legs and his elbow prompted on his knee. His legs were smooth and bare, his lean figure highlighted by a tight black bodice that let his prominent shoulders shine. He had a thin black band of lace around his neck that made Jaehyun wonder how tight that felt around his throat, and a couple of lace ears on top of his head. 

Bunny ears, of course.

"Doyoung?" Choked out the younger, eyes unable to avert the most covetous image of his boyfriend he had ever witnessed. 

He was holding a compact mirror on his other hand and he seemed to have stolen one of the liquid lipsticks that Jaehyun had hoarded for business matters. 

It was a pastel chocolate tone with small glitters that shimmered over the lips as Doyoung dragged the brush across his lips with way too much liquid for it to be practical. 

But sexy? Yes it was, especially when he pressed his lips together to spread it evenly. 

"Happy birthday" he said, leaning back and cocking his eyebrow up with a daring gesture. 

A smile quirked up on Jaehyun’s lips, silently going all over Doyoung’s body without a clue of what to say. His ears were reddening and his mood… well, his mood skyrocketed through the ceiling, that was for sure because how could he even not feel obsessed over what he was watching. 

"When…?"

"I went shopping" 

"And you did well, that I can tell" 

"That's something you'll have to tell me" crooned the older, sliding off the table to brush Jaehyun’s shoulders with his hands. 

Jaehyun leaned in for a kiss, but Doyoung moved back with a tiny smirk and let go off his astonished boyfriend with a gracious spin across the room. 

Maybe that was just to show off the entire outfit that had been so hard to put together for him. He let Jaehyun look at him like he had been doing a little more, and rejoiced on that fact. 

"Hey" murmured the make-up artist. 

The breathy, low sound delighted Doyoung easily. 

He had just started and Jaehyun was already keening for it. He blamed that to his good job choosing the bodice. 

It wasn't complicated nor excessively fancy, but it suited Doyoung well and emphasised the best parts of his body. 

His small waist was hugged by the stretchy material, his collar and wide shoulders were bare because of the low cut of the open collar and, since it all tied up with two strings that kaced behind his neck, his back was also on display for Jaehyun to watch and touch. 

His ass was barely covered in anything either, just a limited extension of black fabric covering it and getting narrow to basically disappear between his cheeks. 

The small opening at the back to let the puffy tail pop out didn’t help Jaehyun keep the calm that almost at all times stuck to him. 

"Where are you going?"

Jaehyun followed him up with his eyes. He was drinking from the scene attentively, the feel of desire burned inside his body as Doyoung’s hands returned to his shoulders, guiding him to the bed until Jaehyun hit his calves against the mattress. 

"Why don't you sit down?" 

Oh, so dangerous. 

They were keeping eye contact all the time with the facility Doyoung had learned through the months, like he knew Jaehyun loved. He played with the kind of erotism that made him droll, stretching it out in the moment with a coy smile. 

He was trying to be more naughty than usually, so for a good measure he bit his bottom lip down, perfectly painted and lined. 

The younger let the bunny guide him down and sat down on the bed.

Doyoung liked how it felt to be so powerful over Jaehyun. It felt liberating to commit to that level of intimacy and knowing there was nothing to be embarrassed about. 

“So… bunnies” purred Doyoung, leaning on his ear, using the opportunity to stick his up higher than normal, arching his back to show his bare legs, his barely covered ass and the fluffy tail that had him putting much effort in not mewling yet due to the new angle rubbing against his walls. He had to move like an actor and say special words for everything to turn memorable, the clothes were just an addition that will go to hell soon. “When you called me like that and said you like them I thought you meant all those cute little mammals jumping around the meadow and eating some lettuce. But comes out my boyfriend dearest actually likes the Playboy waiter bunny type”

“That’s not exactly-”

“It’s a bit naughty, don’t you think?”

“Well” blurted out Jaehyun, dumbstruck. He was certainly cute to Doyoung. “Yes?”

“You know what? A fun fact” teased Doyoung, acting as if he was about to be a smartypants giving lessons to his very out of focus boyfriend that became more off-centered when Doyoung sat on his lap and laced his arms around his neck, giving a glossy kiss to the edge of his jaw. “The original playboy waitresses had to undergo a thorough training”

“Oh, yeah?” smirked Jaehyun. “Didn’t know”

“Ah? What are you thinking?” asked the older, disguising a little bounce on his boyfriend's lap as an intent to place himself correctly and eliciting a low hum from his throat. Even without taking off his pants he could tell the shape of his member starting to get hard for him. “They were  required to learn how to identify dozens of brands of liquor and know how to prepare cocktails too”

“Ah…”  he said, absentmindedly, his attention being really drawn to the ball of fluff at Doyoung’s behind brushing against his thigh. He had noticed how the friction of it when he moved on his lap had Doyoung closing his eyes momentarily to enjoy its presence. “How interesting…”

“Oh, yes, it's not a very known fact of history. They also had to pose like this or that, it was a very callous etiquette process” 

“Well, I knew you were diligent” said Jaehyun, finally saying something coherent and, in fact, bold. "Because look at you, you could be graded Best Bunny"

Doyoung giggled, his face getting closer to Jaehyun’s. 

He had practiced these lines in front of the mirror before he arrived home and he was quite sure that they would work Jaehyun up terribly much, but he hadn’t imagined he himself would also feel the sparks curling in his lower stomach as they were about to roll off his tongue. 

“Do you want to kiss me?”

“Well, yes… how could I even say not to that?” The latter suppressed a laugh, because Jaehyun was having a mental block that was evident, and the only thing he was doing yet was going over him with his eyes. And perhaps brush the tail against his bulge to give himself those faint shifts of it inside him that were going to end him just as soon as he tried the proper version of it. “And specially while you are looking like that?” 

Doyoung felt praised in a hyperaware, strange and blissful way that encouraged him more to keep acting his role. 

He waved his finger making a sign for Jaehyun to come closer. 

“You know what’s a pity? It was forbidden for clients to touch bunnies, to flirt with them or date” the immediate frown from the make-up artist had him levitating, and the strong grip of his hand around his hips prodded Doyoung even more, wishing to be dragged all across the room by Jaehyun’s strong arms. “Luckily, this is just a game”

It only took Jaehyun a second to catch that one invitation, throwing himself to Doyoung’s mouth with open arms and no hesitations. 

Doyoung put his arms also laced around him, passionately kissing him back with that different tilt of far too much  lip gloss on Doyoung. It felt sticky and wet in the most pleasurable of the senses that a messy kiss can have. It wasn’t inexpert or clumsy, it was just frenzied out of heated up loving. 

Doyoung tried to get closer, and rubbed his body against Jaehyun, messing his fingers with his soft brunette hair. 

The make-up artist was sucking his lips eagerly, smiling onto his mouth. He was excited to a big extent, and Doyoung could sense how hard he was pressing his body against his like he would never have enough of his touch. Even as if he had never touched him before. 

They pushed and pulled from each other they did everything in their hands to bring each other closer even if they were literally all the close he could be without breaking into pieces and rearranging themselves mixing them up. But it felt like it was possible to just deepen it a little bit more each time, when they air mingled and mixed and they tasted each other in their spit. 

Doyoung pushed his hips forward, shameless grinding against Jaehyun’s crotch and making their fronts meet. 

Jaehyun gasped as they parted, exhaling a peak of adrenaline with it. Even his vision blurred out with the natural dilatation of his pupils once he got so drunk with affection. 

By the other hand, Doyoung’s attention was directly grabbed by something else when he ‘came back’. It was the absolute mess that stained Jaehyun’s lips and smudged towards his cheek just because Doyoung had left his imprint. 

Red lipstick didn’t see as bad of an idea as it used to. 

He grinded his hips harder, not trying to hide his intentions. Jaehyun keened, his hands wrapping around his hips to guide him back and forth. 

“So” said Jaehyun with a voice that had become hoarse out of a sudden. The thought of hitting him hard enough to mess up his tone made Doyoung feel heady. “What are those bunny stands you were talking about? How does a good bunny pose like?” 

“I don’t know how they pose,” answered Doyoung, hovering to lift himself up from his boyfriend’s lap, much to Jaehyun’s displeasure. The sentence would cost him at least a blush, but he was committed. “Since you are the one that likes bunnies so much, why don’t you give me a couple suggestions?”

The make-up artist probably read the small bashfulness on Doyoung, and he himself felt different and thrilled, but they kept playing along. 

Doyoung had turned around a little to avoid showing his nerves to Jaehyun, resulting in a clear image of himself in the vanity’s mirror. 

His face was starting to grow disheveled, and his cheeks were clearly flushed while his dark hair strands fell over his blow out eyes. He was too tight on his piece of lingerie, so much that he asked himself how long he could bear in it when things turned out more drastic. 

The glimpse of Jaehyun didn’t help to slow down the urgency of that moment’s arrival. 

He saw how his eyes had gone down and landed on the cottontail. 

The younger reached out with his index finger, poking the toy with curiosity and making Doyoung have to hold himself back from flinching. 

It was hard for him not to go all over the place as it got pushed in slightly and then the pressure ceded when Jaehyun let go. 

He was not used to being constantly full, and he had been wearing it for the past hour at least. He was semi hard just out of having it inside. Not to mention the part where he had to prep himself to get it in there.

It seemed to be what made Jaehyun put the pieces together, so he teased another harder push on it that made Doyoung moan faintly. 

"Y-yah" he said, clearing his throat afterwards. "Do you need an instruction book?"

"I didn’t know you were into this things"

"I wasn't," he answered before a sharper breath came in his way with the small tug of Jaehyun undoing the way in. He turned it a little, as if trying to figure out how a device worked. It did work like that. "Not that much. But I wanted to try it… so I told Taeyong and he helped me with it"

"I don't know if that makes me very jealous or if I find it arousing as hell"

Doyoung knitted his eyebrows, thankful for having his back facing Jaehyun so he couldn't see his cheeks lighting up when the understandment hit. "N-no! I don't mean putting it in!" 

"Oh… oh… you said it like that so…"

"No, just choosing a size" sulked the older.

Jaehyun aah-ed, and then chuckled. His hand was still taking care of the small of Doyoung's back, thumbing smooth skin and staring at the ball of fluff slotted between Doyoung’s tight ass. 

"So…" He whispered, almost hesitant. “You put it in by yourself?”

“Right”

"Is it big?" 

Doyoung cocked an eyebrow although Jaehyun couldn't see that. Men are predictable, but he would not blame Jaehyun for that. 

Since he wanted the obvious too. 

"Why don't you find out for yourself?" 

"Understood" murmured Jaehyun. 

His arm snaked around Doyoung’s thin waist, forcing him closer to the edge of the bed. His soft lips planted a light kiss just in between the two dips on his lower back while the opposite hand took care of kneading the flesh of Doyoung's butt. 

The older man flushed. He didn't know what to do with his hands, where to plant them at the time Jaehyun pressed gentle kisses on his back, but he didn't need programmed movements because his lungs gave in to the sentiments, mewling under the tender attention. 

Jaehyun cupped his ass, and his thumb descended towards Doyoung’s tailbone, pressing down hard on the base of the tail, all the far it could go.

Doyoung’s breath hitched. He looked back to Jaehyun to just find the younger with his cheek leaning on the curve of his ass and looking up at him with an amused smile. 

He really was enjoying that too much and Doyoung… well, he was blushing. 

Something flashed across Jaehyun’s expression, as he locked his eyes with Doyoung and the lust popped behind his irises, pulling the plug out really slow and rejoicing in the way that Doyoung’s mouth parted while the thickness inside came out to spread his hole apart.

It was slick with the lube that Doyoung had needed to insert it, and it was already driving him wild to wait with it inside, so the stretch of his ring of muscle around the wide part when Jaehyun pushed it out halfways had his legs weak. 

He held it there for a moment, and Doyoung’s legs wobbled as his muscles instinctively closed around the metal and were held gapping. 

"It’s bigger than I expected" commented the younger, licking his dry lips as he drank on the view. 

Doyoung was taking pride in the struggle that he could guess under Jaehyun’s wannabe calm tone. He knew what he had come to do here today, and smirked to himself with his growing confidence and the pange of lust before looking from above his shoulder with faked innocence. 

"It's not bigger than you, tho" 

The toy went back in as Jaehyun fucked it back in making Doyoung jolt. He was getting the idea of why these things were so pleasurable, his eyes fluttering closed at the clenching and unclenching of his walls around the metal. 

"Who would have told me that I would see you like this and saying those things… fuck" he laughed. "I wonder what are the things that I could make you say" 

"You want to hear something I have to say?"

"Oh yes. What is it, hyung?" 

Doyoung gots more and more thrilled as Jaehyun called him like that and his voice was just velvet, pumping the toy out and in a couple of times more. 

He turned around and crunched down, his hands caressing Jaehyun’s sides and going down to his hips as Doyoung lowered himself to kneel down without breaking eye contact.

"I wanna eat you up" he whispered with a smoky voice.

Jaehyun's stomach flipped over.

Growing playful due to his boyfriend's expression, Doyoung brushed his tongue over his teeth slowly. He leaned on between Jaehyun’s legs to press a kiss on his crotch and then opened his mouth to press his bulge through the fabric. 

Jaehyun was in shock and awe at the same time to the point that his breath was shaky. He was not to blame with the view he was getting, accompanied by the faint brush of Doyoung's tongue going up sluggishly over the tent on his pants. 

He went up all the way and bit on his jeans, tugging back from the waistband to make the button of his fly pop. He wasn't sure that it would work, but it did, and the groan at the back of Jaehyun’s throat was unmatched so he went to bite the zipper and unzip it with his teeth as well. 

"Well, go on..." smiled Jaehyun coming out of the trance to help the older sliding out of his pants and kicking them off. 

Doyoung’s fingers slipped under the white t-shirt, feeling the tight muscles of his abdomen whilst his lips were at the inner part of the younger's thighs, putting open mouthed kisses there and starting to suck a bruise.

“I want you out of those pants” dictated Doyoung, guiding his tongue up again and putting his lips right against the base of Jaehyun’s length. “They are getting on my way”

With his eyes unable to leave the view, Jaehyun lowered that piece of cloth too, slipping out of it and letting the older take the erection on his hand, giving a ‘candid’ kiss on the tip. He grunted under his breath and so Doyoung wanted to smile to himself, but he concealed it behind the first short lick he gave on his member to then take the tip in his mouth. 

He knew it felt good for him because of the way in which his hand fisted his hair getting the lace ears to tilt, but still, Jaehyun didn’t push him lower. He hardly ever forced him down and that was not the different day, so he let the bunny move his head down slowly. 

He put all his effort, but Jaehyun really was big, it wasn’t an exaggeration to please his ego, so Doyoung stroked the rest with his fingers, pressing hard to squeeze the grunt out of Jaehyun. 

He hollowed his cheeks next and stroked up again, swirling his tongue at the tip.

Jaehyun couldn’t do anything but to groan when Doyoung dipped in and staring at the sinful image Doyoung was creating with his member deliciously slipping between his lips, and it turned him on so much that he had to look up and see how the pleasure he was receiving started distorting his vision of the lamp hanging from the ceiling. 

It really swelled up harder as the slim, skillful fingers of his boyfriend -more than used to stroke the icing out of those piping bags to make the prettiest cakes come alive- squeezed the length, bringing sparkles to crack inside Jaehyun. His small lips all sticky with leftover lipstick wrapped around harder, sucking on the tip and tasting the salty flavour of his boyfriend. 

The moan that Jaehyun profered had Doyoung melting in place, his eyes widening to look up at him. 

“Don’t stop now!” wailed Jaehyun, bucking his hips up,  cock twitching in response with longing. 

To be fair, Doyoung was liking it too much too. He was kneeling on the floor but his legs were pressed together as he moved his body trying to make some friction against the piece of lingerie that, as expected, was too tight. 

He didn’t stop sucking him but, as he was growing uncomfortable, his hips writhled, making himself feel the whip of bliss in his pulsing member and his fullness killing him from the inside whilst the toy touched everywhere in his body. 

He whined accidentally on his length making Jaehyun get a sharp vibration delivered directly on his member that drew him closer to ecstasy. 

He returned his eyes to the man on the floor, seeing what he was doing with a tint of evil in his eyes.

“You are hard, right?”

He nodded unable to speak because he didn’t really want to leave his privileged spot. 

He looked up at his boyfriend's face crumpling. Have him like that really give Doyoung the best of thrills, humming around him to worsen the effect. 

"Doyoung!"

The latter took hold of his cock with his hand and let it fall from his mouth.

"What? Close" he asked, knowing the answer well.

He pumped his cock with his hand and teased the end with his tongue, barely touching it with the tip. 

"Fuck" chuckled Jaehyun, fist close around the sheets and the other resting between Doyoung’s cutesy ears as he moaned. "Yes" 

Doyoung nodded with an amused breath, then started jerking him off hard. Jaehyun could feel his tongue teasing the base of his cock, making it throb in his hand even more.

His head fell back to face the ceiling and his lips parted with a louder groan, the tingling in his lower stomach had an edge of urgency to it.

"Doyoung" he cried. His dick twitched badly so the older man knew there was no time left and descended on him again, engulfing all that he could take and sucking with ease. Jaehyun’s hot load shot from his hard cock and filled Doyoung’s willing mouth. "Shit, Doyoung… oh god..." 

Jaehyun chuckled through a clipped sigh as the older drove him through the pleasure, rubbing his dick more and taking in the ribbons of white that came from his tip.

It was Jaehyun who had to make the decision pulling himself away from Doyoung when the drag of his high started hurting. 

“S-stop and hop here, bunny”

"Where?" 

"Here, where you can kiss my mouth" 

Now, Jaehyun was not that bossy of a lover -not all the times- but that night he had to go out for it with all his weapons. He helped Doyoung to get on his feet again and kissed him deep, playing with his tongue. 

He pushed him up and onto the bed, getting Doyoung to gasp and laugh slightly as he was pushed against the mattress while Jaehyun pinned him down. The tail was trapped between his body and the bed, and so the plug was practically shoved up, making Doyoung arch his back as soon as he was laying, moaning nicely for the make-up artist. 

"What’s wrong? Is my bunny's tail being annoying?" 

"Annoying is one funny way to say what's the tail being" he said with the strain of pleasure pushing up against a bundle of nerves he quite enjoyed. 

"Ah… don't you need me anymore to feel good or what? I can leave you alone with your tail if you want" 

Doyoung smiled with his naufgty grin as he wiggled his butt to rub the metal against the spot. 

“It could be fun” he said, in part to tease Jaehyun but also wondering what was the thrill he was getting out of the imagination of making himself try to end just like this, wiggling around the bed. He was almost positive that ten minutes of doing it would make him go on the underwear. “But since it’s your birthday and I want you to watch me with my present, I think it would be impossible to have you staring without touching”

“That’s absolutely true” he growled low as he nipped Doyong’s ear and his lips rolled down to his neck to lick and suck pretty marks on it. “Not to be controlling, but I’m the birthday boy and I want to play with my plaything”

“I so know what you like” the baker smirked, his teasing eyes not failing to still be adoring as he stared at his boyfriend wearing his brunette hair tousled and his cheeks painted with the red of love and exertion.

It wasn’t going to take him a full minute to begin filling up again. 

“You know, right?” replied Jaehyun, busy planting a kiss on his shoulder. Doyoung tilted his head to the side, allowing him to bite and suck his way up upon his skin, skillfully, feeling the chills forming under his lips and tongue, his teeth scraping and teasing the skin just under the tight black choker. “I also know what you like, Bunny. So tell me, is this a present for me or for you?”

He guided his hands down and began squeezing Doyoung’s hardness, pressing his palm down over the material of the black bodice. Doyoung’s mouth parted in silence, then the hard exhale came out hard. 

Since the first time Jaehyun saw it at Doyoung’s old apartment, he had found so hot the way his lips parted while he was stimulating him, and he, on purpose, turned even more determined on those kisses and touches so he could make him do that face. 

“It’s… It’s valentine’s day too… so… both”

The older raised his legs up in a perfectly self-explanatory movement, letting Jaehyun lean on further with his hand pressing roughly.

“Sounds good to me, baby” Jaehyun declared. In a second he was grabbing his thighs at each side of his body and pushing Doyoung closer to him. Then, his right hand creeped its way down his crotch. He looked at him a bit too devilish and faked one of his funny pouts. “But I don’t know if I have it on me to take that outfit from you”

“Don’t worry” practically moaned Doyoung, who was still under the barely there stimulation of Jaejyun’s hand against which he was grinding down, searching for fulfillment even when he didn’t do it on purpose. “The clothes can go, the ears and the tail stay”

Jaehyun smiled, in his lips stained with Doyoung’s lipstick a mix of the affection and the need. His hand found the knot behind his neck to untie the bodice, pulling it down little by little and peeling it from his skin, leaving Doyoung with only his flesh on display. 

His skin was glistening with swat and the precum that he had been releasing through the encounter. 

“Oh, well… the tail actually has to go” 

Doyoung moaned underneath his lips as his hips rolled and his now freed dick brushed against Jaehyun’s own harness, the clear release bridging between their tips for a moment. 

“I don’t…” he started, with his mind somewhere else. He barely admitted the thought of being empty at that moment. 

As usual, Jaehyun was able to read his mind, his tone, or perhaps the glint of his eyes. 

“Just for a moment, Bunny, only to give you something better” Jaehyun giggled, hearing his boyfriend losing it for him, his eyes shutting tight. Hips bucking up repeatedly to keep them both rubbing against each other. “Come on, turn around”

Something snapped then inside Doyoung. He shook his head quick. 

“No. You can take it out but I won’t be face down” he struggled saying the words, so Jaehyun had to hold his hips against the mattress so he would stop stimulating them both so his voice was understandable. Doyoung swallowed hard to clear his throat, knowing what he was doing and trying to be collected for just a second before the final sprint. “I want to look at you while you come” 

“Oh… Doyoung” smiled Jaehyun, pausing their wicked game for a moment to gently kiss his lips and give a tender pat to his thigh, making sure that Doyoung was comfortable. “Of course, we can do it like this if you want. I also like looking at your eyes when you are enjoying yourself”

“Then hurry u- _ ahh _ ” 

The baker hadn’t noticed that Jaehyun¡s fingers had been taking a hold of the fluffy tail while they were talking, but when he pulled out from it, all came crashing onto him, making his hypersensitive body tremble. 

He knew he was beyond ready to receive him within his walls. The complete removal of the tail let a wet squelch out and sent Doyoung to a high place. He curled on the bed as his hole protested loudly about the erase of the hard item that was pulling it open. 

It was quite annoying, so much that he moaned and his nose scrunched. 

Doyoung needed to hug Jaehyun’s length and feel his love as close to him as it was possible to do for humans with physical bodies. 

And is not like Doyoung had ever been sex-crazedor that that had changed since he met Jaehyun, but it was true that from time to time there was this impulse growing inside him and that told him to take absolutely everything that the make-up artist could do to feel just a bit closer to him when they were done. 

That’s why he only went to bed with those he was completely sure to have feelings for. Because his pleasure was born from the kind of thing that was dripping from Jaehyun’s eyes as he moved to the dressing table and took out the lube and a condom, staring at Doyoung as if he was perfect and flaws didn’t matter. 

Doyoung wanted him more than anything in his life because he loved him more than anything else too. It was something that could only be about them. 

He waited for a moment until Jaehyun rolled the rubber on his already hard and needy dick, awakening even more bliss across it. 

Their eyes locked for a second, making them both giggle as they noticed they had become really impatient with the whole thing. 

With a wide smile on his face, Doyoung spread his legs apart and welcomed Jaehyun in between them, placing himself on his knees and guiding his member to his pleading entrance. 

“Gently or hard?” asked Jaehyun too so he could be sure. The blunt feeling of his large cock pushing against his entrance made it hard for Doyoung to think, lost in the mixture of dull pain on his lower back and the absolute need to feel more of it until the sensation turned around and his eyes watered. 

He was wet with the lube that he had already used before for the plug, but he appreciated that Jaehyun had used more, because he already knew his boyfriend’s size was no joke. 

The thought made him giggle absentmindedly. 

“Both” he choked out. “Gently at first and then hard” 

Jaehyun nodded, and finally proceeded to thrust himself into Doyoung, pushing in slowly to leave the baker with some time to adjust around the thickness that was piercing him.

“Oh my-” 

“I know… stay still,” said Jaehyun, having trouble audible in his voice as well. He spurred the words onto Doyoung’s ear where his face was burying with his eyes shut hard. “Just a bit more, baby, you are doing so good” he crooned, kissing Doyoung’s hot cheek with a small peck of reassurement. “Just hold on a little bit more, it will feel great”

Doyoung tried to do as told and held on his back, his nails dragging across his shoulders with no regrets of the red lines he was painting on his pale skin, the sting starting to build but being encouraging for Jaehyun to move out halfway and push inside again with a sharp push. 

“ _ Nghh _ ! Jaehyun, please!” whined Doyoung, losing his mind. “Go! Move! More!”

“Gladly!” he grunted as he speeded up, provoking an amazing sensation to curl in Doyoung’s crotch, the tightening of his member burning his blood. 

The tingles were all over his nerves, and traveled to his brain, making him forget everything else. He only acknowledged every inch of Jaehyun’s body pressed against his and committed to melt with Doyoung to become just one large puddle of feelings. 

The younger had his face buried in the crook of his neck, where Doyoung could hear him moan every time he thrusted in, both of them exhilarated and forgetting there was even an excuse with the whole bunny, birthday or valentine’s day ordeal in the first place. 

It didn’t matter as much as they mattered to each other. Is everything that was ever important in that room. 

Jaehyun was like that. Doyoung was a bit more quiet while the younger always moaned as much as it was even possible and faded on a cloud of breathed out compliments for his boyfriend, but he did it in a suggestive way that only helped Doyoung going through a deep sensation of euphoria. 

He also took Doyoung’s petition to heart, and in a second he leaped into the hard part and started slamming on the baker, whose body already felt like bursting at that point. His back lifted up from pure pleasure being injected in his veins like a drug, as Jaehyun tried to hold him hard against the bed. 

“Shit, Jaehyun, I’m not lasting a lot longer”

“It’s okay… ‘cuz me neither” he said in an amalgam of relishand amusement.

“Fine… fine… don’t stop then…”

“I couldn’t even if I wanted…I could do this all the time, I could fuck you at every hour”

Doyoung didn't answer that dark confession. Even if he heard him say that he couldn’t pronounce his words, strangled by the erratic breath combined with the fast pounding against his g-spot. 

The abusive pressure on it made his body tense hard. His walls clenched and tightened around Jaehyun’s member, making him increase the passion of his moves. The baker’s body felt ecstatic, the pleasure piling and bursting between their bodies with a big groan, painting their chests white. 

The tightness of the older’s hole clenching with desperation made Jaehyun cry out and sink his length inside him harder one last time to cum right behind his boyfriend with a low purr, going on  in streams in the condom, making Doyoung feel the twitching inside accompanying the warmth of his load anyways. It was the so desired connection he was desperate for as Jaehyun kept slamming himself into his exhausted body until he found the moment to stop and breath out. 

He pushed himself up and out of him to get rid of the used condom. 

Doyoung grunted under his breath, pushing himself up on his elbows and feeling sort of annoyed by the feeling of emptiness that he had been forgetting for a couple of hours. He made a mental note of thanking Taeyong for the tips later, when he got back his energy and the windows of his shared room with Jaehyun weren’t fogged due to the heat of the room contrasting with the cold of February outside.

Or when he wasn’t trying to steady his heart and breath, coming into contact with the scorching skin of his boyfriend, laying by his side again and opening his arms wide as a gesture to call Doyoung in for a comfortable hug.

Doyoung couldn’t help the smile that made his lips curl when Jaehyun looked at him with those soft eyes where he could read long texts about how much he loved him. His heart speeded up just like the first time that the knowledge of reciprocity had sunk in him, just like when they first kissed or they first slept together, just like the time Jaehyun said he loved him or when he asked him to move together. And he really had to think once more about how thankful he was to travel the path back and forth between his comfort zone and the outside. 

He rolled closer to the younger and cuddled to his side, feeling the bump of his lace ears against Jaehyun’s face. 

Doyoung frowned, since he had almost forgotten about them at all. He was surprised that the headband had survived the encounter too. He was about to take it away and toss it aside, but Jaehyun patted his head in between both ears. 

“Leave them on” he said quietly. Doyoung lifted his head up to stare at him and cock a daunting eyebrow up. “I like them” 

“It’s become clear to me” 

“It always surprises me how quick-witted you still are with your answers after getting the shit fucked out of you” he said with the softest, gentlest eyes and voice someone had ever used to say a sentence like that. But it was Jaehyun, he always sounded like that when he spoke to Doyoung, and -as Ten, friend of both- had called it, the infatuation wedged his throat and he started sounding like a Disney prince about to begin his musical scene. 

Doyoung laughed, nonetheless. He was terribly tired for a moment, and flattered at the same time.

He sighed. 

“Happy birthday, my love”

“Happy Valentine’s day”

“Also that… I hope you liked your present”

“Tsk… what a question” he chuckled, rolled his eyes entertained and leaned on the older to give him a sweet kiss on his lips that lasted longer this time, taking the precise moment to say all the unspoken things that could not be put in words. For example, all the love that filled him in or how grateful he was for having Doyoung in his life to stay in a long term and not just with a one night-stand experience behind them after the party at his house. “Thank you, really. For staying with me all this time and putting up with my ideas that sometimes don’t make sense”

“They do make sense, Jaehyun. Even if some get turned down when you present them somewhere, they are brilliant and well-put, you work hard to make them real… and if someone turns them down there would be someone else, with determination and a more open mind, to take interest”

“Like you?”

“I’m not the most… flashy person out there”

“You say with a pair of ears on your head and lipstick smudged on your face” he joked, pinching Doyoung’s cheek and making him frown at the gesture for further amusement of himself. “But you know, you don’t need to be flashy to be open-minded. You can wear your white shirt and be the most understanding”

“Hmm” hummed the older, rubbing his face to the crook of Jaehyun’s neck. He inhaled deeply, taking in the scent of his cologne that never failed to relax him since the moment Doyoung’s senses learned to match it with the thought of his boyfriend. “I love you”

“I love you too. And let me say…” said Jaehyun with something mischievous prying in his voice. “That I don’t think any of the presents I get for my birthday it’s going to top this one, so I don’t know what I’m going to tell them” 

Doyoung didn’t say anything, but Jaehyun could feel the smile against his skin. 

“Yeah but… you know what I’m thinking?”

“Surprise me”

“The whole dinner at a restaurant plan was a bluff to surprise you, I didn’t book anything because I didn’t know how long this would take us… and I’m regretting now because I’m starving and too tired to make valentine’s day worth food” 

“Oh! Right!” exclaimed Jaehyun, jumping up from the bed with renewed energy and startling Doyoung. 

“What!?”

“I have something for you!”

“For me?” asked Doyoung, absolutely puzzled. “Why?”

“Because it’s valentine’s day!” whined Jaehyun again, already putting some sweatpants on. “And you are my boyfriend, so obviously I got you a present”

“To me?” again questioned the older, pointing at himself. 

Well, it had been a while since Doyoung last had a present for Valentine’s day. Taeyong always got chocolates for everyone to share, and sometimes Yuta had scribbled some dumb, joking card for him, but as much as he loved those little gestures from his friends, he didn’t had the full pack of boyfriend that gets something specially thinking about Doyoung’s likes. 

“Of course for you, dummy Bunny” said Jaehyun with a dimpled smile, most likely adoring the cuteness that surprise added to Doyoung’s features. “Wait for me just a minute, I’ll be back”

Doyoung was astonished. 

Of course he had expected to have something from Jaehyun in the day that supposedly was meant for love, since his boyfriend was quite the romantic type, but still, he had focused in his present so much that a part of him had almost forgotten he was the other side of a couple until that moment. 

Doyoung knew that Johnny had invited Jungwoo to his favorite restaurant for lunch and saw the pictures they posted about it. He knew that Jungwoo had spent three hours going back to the same two stores just to pick the best fruit infusing water bottle for Johnny because he spent hours imparting yoga classes. He had to go through dozens of pictures and hesitant text from Ten -hating Jaehyun for giving his number to the model during the two weeks that torture continued at every hour Ten was free- trying to chose what to get Taeyong as a present until he settled for taking him all the way to Jeju and have a cabin weekend where, by the other hand, the antique camera that Taeyong had got for Ten would come handy. 

He knew all of those reveries, but he hadn’t thought about Jaehyun going up and down like his friends until he came up with something valuable for him. And he quite knew there was very little chance for Jaehyun to be wrong with his choice. For some reason he was sure that Jaehyun would hit the target. 

He felt something warm under his chest, suddenly realising that it was their moment that anyone needed to know about, no matter how people were around posting their pictures and having their flashy trips posted in their stories. 

It just felt right like this, in the… in the small, comfortable zone. Because it didn’t feel so bad to plant a porch in the Comfort Zone and sit there with someone from time to time. 

The pudor finally hit him as he cold of the room grew in Jaehyun’s brief absence, so Doyoung got himself a pair of clean boxers and a fresh hoodie from their closet’s drawers. He got rid of his bunny ears and put them with the rest of the costume’s discharged parts -minus the choker, because he actually forgot he was wearing it- and was about to pick up some pants too, but Jaehyun came in with that big, proud and cute smile plastered on his expression and a white box on his hands. 

The excitement kicked Doyoung right in the gut, making him push through the room clasping his hands together. 

“What is it?”

“It’s a present, you have to open it to know”

Jaehyun extended the box towards Doyoung who took it carefully on his hands. It wasn’t big or too heavy, just a square box of white cardboard tied with a baby blue ribbon that drew a bow on top. There was no note or any other clue for what was inside, but Doyoung commenced to frown just right away because of the familiar look of the container. 

He was used to deal with those boxes, because those were where he put desserts’ orders. 

Quickly, he directed a glance to his boyfriend, trying to decipher his expression. And he did, but it wasn’t telling of the content, just a clear picture of Jaehyun’s nerves climbing to his chest and clogging his airways. 

“Open it!” he urged with a chuckle, concealing his giddiness- poorly- with the humorous tone. 

Doyoung’s hands, he noticed, were shaking when he guided one to the bow and pulled from the ribbon, untying it and letting it fall to the floor. 

Inside the box, there was white tissue paper, holding a small yet pretty cake. It was heart shaped with white icing spread all over it, not the most smoothly but pretty well distributed. There were a couple of cutely piped red hearts, but the most special part was the sentence that had been written with almost perfect calligraphy and all the love of the world. 

_ I love you, Doyoung.  _

Four words that made his ears ring and his heart pound while his hands still shook with the leftover anticipation. 

He stared at the cake as if he didn’t see thousands of them every day since he founded a bakery, as if the sponge would burst and let out a magic genie that would make every wish of his come true just like the end of his solitude. 

He raised his eyes to Jaehyun, who had that look in his eye, caught between the happiness, excitement and fear of having failed to his boyfriend with his choice. 

“I know I made a mess, but I wanted to-”

“This is perfect” interrupted Doyoung, showing off his amazement with ease. “This is literally perfect”

“It’s not” giggled Jaehyun humbly. He had not understood the entire length of Doyoung’s words. “This word is awful, and I’m not so sure about how it’s going to taste”

“No, I don’t mean that” said Doyoung, shaking his head and looking at the cake again, lovely eyes making Jaehyun want to sigh like a teenager whose crush has smiled at him. He was so smitten by every little thing in the older. “I mean that this present it’s perfect. Is what I have been wanting for a long time, waiting for a long time”

“A cake with melting icing?” joked Jaehyun, trying to spare himself for the whip of sentiments. 

Doyoung smiled and shook his head, taking a step towards his boyfriend and cupping his cheek with his free hand. 

“You know what I mean. You always know, even if I don’t say it”

Jaehyun returned the grin and nodded, closing the gap to leave a tender kiss at Doyoung’s cheek. 

There was nothing better than loving someone that you don’t have to convince of loving you back, that has always walked towards you when they wanted, as they wanted. So you know they have chosen you, and that they will keep choosing you with your flaws and your lows.

And that’s what Doyoung had ever wanted. 

  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> As usual, I'm leaving my [ Twitter](https://twitter.com/leechailatten) here and reminding you my kofi is linked in the bio. I also have commisions for short fanfics open now, if you are interested!


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